Georgia parole board defends parole process for juvenile lifers

ATLANTA (CN) — Georgia’s parole board does not give juvenile offenders serving life in prison meaningful opportunities to show they’ve matured since their crimes, a woman who has spent over four decades behind bars argued to a federal judge on Wednesday.

Janice Buttrum, a 62-year-old woman who has been in prison since she was 17 years old, was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager for aiding her 26-year-old, abusive husband in the murder of a woman at a North Georgia motel.

After spending her entire adult life behind bars, over 40 years, the now-elderly Buttrum argues she is no longer the same person as her teenage self. In her suit, she argues the board is violating the due process and civil rights of juvenile lifers by ignoring Supreme Court precedent that says juvenile defendants should be treated differently than adults, regardless of the offense.

Amid growing scientific research on brain development — finding children are less culpable and more capable of change than adults — the Supreme Court held in 2016’s Montgomery v. Louisiana that states must offer a meaningful chance for release to juveniles who demonstrate rehabilitation and maturity, even if they committed serious crimes.

With no guidelines or standards in place to adhere to this ruling, her attorney Kyle Tau said Georgia’s parole board “continues to punish Buttrum as if she is irreparably corrupt.”

But the parole board argued such claims should be dismissed due to a recent ruling from the 11th Circuitover a nearly identical suit, that said because about 1% of Florida’s juvenile-lifer population obtained release, the state’s parole system was not a “sham.” A petition for a rehearing on the case in front of the full appellate court remains pending.

According to her parole attorney, Buttrum has stayed committed to self-improvement, taking advantage of virtually every opportunity made available to her by the Georgia Department of Corrections and has stayed out of trouble. She’s completed hours of on-the-job training, gained a spot in the Honor Dorm of Pulaski State Prison, and earned college credit towards a bachelor’s degree with a spot on the dean’s list at Mercer University.

Yet, the Georgia’s Board of Paroles has denied Buttrum release five times, citing “not enough time served” based on her homicide conviction as the sole reason each time.

“I just don’t think the allegations are sufficient enough to show she has no chance at parole,” the board’s attorney, Deborah Gore, said.

The 11th Circuit ruling runs afoul of multiple Supreme Court rulings, Tau argued. Moreover, that case dealt with Florida’s parole board, which he said runs differently than Georgia’s.

Tau said Georgia’s parole board has not been able to give him an exact number of juvenile homicide offenders that have been released over the past ten years.

“The thing that bothers me as an observer who practiced law for many years, is that it is a secretive, concealed process and the criteria is not clear,” U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg said.

“Its a black box,” she added.

The Barack Obama appointee seemed poised to allow the case to proceed so that further evidence can be presented on the opaque workings of the parole process, as was allowed in the similar Florida case. Totenberg allowed a nearly identical case she is overseeing to proceed brought by David Moore, who was sentenced to life imprisonment at 17 years old for armed robbery.

Gore argued that would not be necessary as the board members have full discretion over parole decisions, regardless of any guidelines in place.

In Georgia, the state parole board is made up of five governor-appointed members serving seven-year terms. Board members often have little incentive to release inmates, as each new release provides potential fodder for political attack ads.

The Peach State is one of just three states where board members do not hold hearings when considering parole. In 19 other states, parole hearings are not always open to the public, according to the Marshall Project, a criminal-justice watchdog.

Totenberg did not say when she will issue a ruling on the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

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