California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Askew, B279887 (Cal. App. 2018):
rebuts that presumption (and here, defendant argues, the People did not); and (2) the finding that a juvenile is the "rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption" must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt (rather than by a court) because it operates as a factual finding necessary to increase the statutory maximum of the offense (see Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466). The People assert that we need not confront defendant's arguments because a recent amendment to section 3051 now permits defendants sentenced to life without the possibility of parole to seek parole after 25 years, which means he is no longer sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and thus moots out his constitutional challenge. We will address the threshold issue of mootness first.
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