Page:Harris v. State (2018 Ark. 179).pdf/15

 unfair to deny him the relief on resentencing already afforded by this court to similarly-situated individuals, I concur in the disposition of the case.

The capital-murder statute in effect when Harris committed the offense for which he was convicted provided that a person found to have violated the statute would be sentenced to either death or life imprisonment without parole. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-10-101(c) (Supp. 1995). The FSMA amended section 5-10-101(c) to state that the sentence for a person who commits capital murder while under the age of eighteen is "life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of thirty (30) years' imprisonment." The majority concludes that because this portion of the FSMA was not made retroactive, the FSMA does not apply to Harris. What the majority fails to understand is that it was not necessary for the amendment to section 5-10-101 to be made retroactive due to the operation of other provisions of the FSMA.

The FSMA also amended Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-93-621 to state: A minor who was convicted and sentenced to the department for an offense committed before he or she was eighteen (18) years of age, in which the death of another person occurred, and that was committed before, on, or after March 20, 2017, is eligible for release on parole no later than after twenty-five (25) years of incarceration if he or she was convicted of murder in the first degree, § 5-10-102, or 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. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-93-621(a)(2)(A) (Supp. 2017). Section 16-93-621(a)(2)(B) states that subdivision (a)(2)(A) applies retroactively to a minor whose offense was committed before