State seeks review of ruling that tossed teen sentences

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon’s Department of Justice will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review last month’s ruling by the state Supreme Court that tossed the nearly 67-year sentences given to twin boys who were 15 when they murdered an elderly couple in Salem.

The court said the sentences for Lydell White and Laycell White amounted to a life term without parole.

The court also said the sentences amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment under the 2012 landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama.

But The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Friday that the Oregon Department of Justice wants the nation’s highest court to clear up whether the Miller ruling “applies to non-mandatory sentences” like the ones the White twins faced.

The brothers in 1993 killed a couple in their 80s and stole their car.