State of Iowa vs. Eric William Querrey

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 13–1937
Filed October 30, 2015
STATE OF IOWA,
Appellee,
vs.
ERIC WILLIAM QUERREY,
Appellant.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lucas County, Terry
Rickers, Judge.
A defendant appeals the district court’s judgment entry following a
resentencing hearing. DISTRICT COURT SENTENCE VACATED AND
CASE REMANDED.
Jane M. White of Jane White Law Office, Des Moines, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Mary A. Triick, Assistant
Attorney General, and Paul M. Goldsmith, County Attorney, for appellee.

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APPEL, Justice.
Eric Querrey was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced
to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1992. At the time of
his conviction, Querrey was fifteen years old. On September 27, 2012,
Querrey filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence. After conducting a
resentencing hearing, the district court sentenced Querrey to life without
the possibility of parole until after he had served thirty-five years.
Based upon our decision in State v. Louisell, we determine the
district court’s imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole until after Querrey has served thirty-five years was
without authority. 865 N.W.2d 590, 600–01 (Iowa 2015). Therefore, we
vacate the district court’s sentence and remand the case to the district
court.
DISTRICT COURT SENTENCE VACATED AND CASE
REMANDED.
All justices concur except Mansfield, Waterman, and Zager, JJ.,
who concur specially.

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#13–1937, State v. Querrey
MANSFIELD, Justice (specially concurring).
On remand, the parties should address, and the district court
should determine, whether Senate File 448 applies to the resentencing
proceeding. See 2015 Iowa Acts. ch. 65 § 1 (to be codified at Iowa Code
§ 902.1(2)); see also id. § 5 (providing that “[t]he sentencing provisions of
this Act shall apply to a person who was convicted of a class ‘A’ felony
prior to, on, or after the effective date of this Act and who was under the
age of eighteen at the time the offense was committed”); Horsley v. State,
160 So. 3d 393, 405–09 (Fla. 2015) (applying post-Miller v. Alabama, 567
U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 183 L. Ed. 2d 407 (2012), sentencing
legislation to a defendant who was originally sentenced before Miller);
State v. Castaneda, 842 N.W.2d 740, 760–62 (Neb. 2014) (same); In re
McNeil, 334 P.3d 548, 552–54 (Wash. 2014) (en banc) (same).
Waterman and Zager, JJ., join this special concurrence.

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