MSC holds that, for the purposes of mandatory life without parole, people turn eighteen on their eighteenth birthdays and not the day before as in common law

A criminal defendant who committed a murder one to two hours before his eighteenth birthday will be resentenced because he was still a juvenile at the time of the crime and his mandatory life without parole sentence would violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. In People v. Woolfolk, No. 149127, the Michigan Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision that for the purposes of sentencing, age is to be determined by the anniversary of birth, rather than the day before in accordance with the common law.

In 2007, the defendant was convicted of first-degree murder, MCL 750.316, after a fatal shooting that took place between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. on the day before his eighteenth birthday. He was sentenced to mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2012, the United States Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), that mandatory life without parole for those under 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. On appeal, the defendant argued that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment because he had not reached his eighteenth birthday.

The Michigan Supreme Court held that age is determined by the anniversary of a defendant’s birth and declined to follow the common law rule in this context. Under the common law, a person is a year older on the first moment of the day before their birthday. The court reasoned that the prevailing custom and practice of the people of Michigan is that a person is a year older on their birthday rather than the day before. Justice Cavanagh concurred in the result only but did not write separately.