Page:Harris v. State (2018 Ark. 179).pdf/11

 no later than after thirty (30) years of incarceration if he or she was convicted of capital murder, § 5-10-101, including any applicable sentencing enhancements, unless by law the minor is eligible for earlier parole eligibility.

(B) Subdivision (a)(2)(A) of this section applies retroactively to a minor whose offense was committed before he or she was eighteen (18) years of age, including minors serving sentences of life, regardless of the original sentences that were imposed. The State argues that the legislature clearly intended for this provision to apply retroactively to juvenile offenders who committed their crimes before the effective date of the FSMA. However, by its plain language, the provision applies only to those juvenile offenders who are serving a sentence for either capital or first-degree murder. Here, Harris's sentence was vacated in 2016. Thereafter, Harris was no longer serving a sentence to which parole eligibility could attach. Accordingly, we hold that the parole-eligibility provision of the FSMA did not apply to Harris at the time of his May 8, 2017 hearing.

Moreover, the penalty provisions of the FSMA do not apply in this case. Section 3, which concerns the authorized sentences for capital murder or treason, amended Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-104(b) to read that “if the defendant was younger than eighteen (18) years of age at the time he or she committed the capital murder or treason [then] he or she shall be sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of thirty (30) years' imprisonment." FSMA § 3. Section 6 of the Act, which concerns the punishment for capital murder, amended Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-10-101(c) to provide that if the defendant was younger than eighteen years of age at the time he or she committed the capital murder, the punishment is life imprisonment