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From Conception Through

the First Year

Language Development

Cognitive Development

Moral Development

Gender Development

Adolescence

Adulthood

The Wellsprings of

Resilience

Psychology in the News,

Revisited

Taking Psychology With

You: Bringing up Baby

Development over

the life Span

pSychology in the newS

Case of Teenager Convicted of Gruesome

Murder Goes to Supreme Court

WaShinGTon, DC, March 20, 2012. The u.S. Supreme Court

began hearing oral arguments today in the case of Evan

Miller, convicted in 2006 of murdering a 52-year-old man

by clubbing him repeatedly with a baseball bat, setting his

trailer home on fire, and leaving him to die in the blaze.

Miller was 14 at the time, and committed the crime with his

16-year-old friend Colby Smith.

Miller was tried as an adult on a charge of capital mur-

der, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment without

the possibility of parole. Smith, in exchange for his testi-

mony, agreed to plead guilty to felony murder charges and

received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

Miller subsequently filed a motion for a new trial, argu-

ing that the sentence constituted cruel and unusual punish-

ment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. In 2005, the

Supreme Court had banned the death penalty for juveniles,

and Miller’s lawyers argue that life without parole is also ex-

cessive and cruel. Developmental psychologists are expected

to testify that the brains of teenagers are not fully mature

and that Miller was not mentally capable of understanding

the meaning and consequences of his actions.

Aubrey Miller, Evan Miller’s 19-year-old sister, believes

her brother and his friend deserve punishment for their

actions. But, she said, neither of the boys are adults and

they can’t think like adults. That’s not an excuse for their

crimes, she added, but she feels it is not right for them to

be tried as grownups. Especially Evan. When a 14-year-old

commits murder, she believes, many people are responsible,

starting with their parents, who never supervised Evan, dis-

ciplined him, or taught him respect. She and her brother,

she added, suffered troubled childhoods of poverty, abuse,

and neglect. No wonder he couldn’t think clearly the night

of the violence.

The hearing will be attended by the family of the victim,

Cole Cannon. Cannon’s daughter, Candy Cheatham, said she

had had no idea that advocacy groups for Evan had filed a

motion with the Supreme Court. They make it sound as if her

father was at fault, she said, starting the whole confronta-

tion that got out of hand. A ruling by the Court is expected

fairly soon.

3

Colby Smith (left) and Evan Miller (right) at their arraignment.