Alls v. Curry

Remember that bad day when you had when you were sixteen? The one where you conspired and attempted to murder someone and then received 25 years to life in prison? Shawn C. Alls does, and that day has haunted him in 2006 and 2008 when he was denied parole.

Now Mr. Alls has filed a petition for habeas corpus stating that the parole board failed to consider that he was only sixteen when the offense occurred. Judge Phyllis Hamilton has noted that prisoners do not presently have a right to have the parole board consider specific evidence. Instead, the parole board only needs "some evidence" supporting its decision which is controversial as discussed in Hayward v. Marshall.

In Hayward the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled en banc that the Governor of California could overturn the decision of the parole board for releasing an inmate for some evidence without offending the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment which finds no right to parole at all.