Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Life Sentence for Teen

Ninham, who is now 27-years old, challenged the sentence, calling it ''unduly harsh and excessive.'' Ninham argued that the sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment and should be amended by granting him the chance of parole.

However, the court disagreed and reported that neither the US nor the Wisconsin constitution restricts the sentencing of a 14-year-old to life without parole in instances where homicide is involved. ''There is no question that Ninham's punishment is severe, but it is not disproportionately so. The manner in which Ninham took Vang's life was horrific and senseless,'' Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler wrote for the court.

Ninham was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide after dropping Vang off of a hospital parking ramp to his death in 1998. Two years later, at the age of 16, Ninham was presented with the sentence of life without parole by Brown County Judge John D. McKay.

Ninham, along with four other teenagers, attacked Vang as he was on his way home from a Green Bay grocery store. Ninham punched Vang and pursued him all the way to the top of a five-story hospital parking structure, where Vang was attacked again. After pinning Vang to the wall, Ninham and 13-year-old Richard Crapeau swung the victim by his wrists and ankles before letting him drop over the wall of the ramp. A bystander reported that he heard a sound ''like a wet bag of cement hitting the pavement'' as Vang landed on his head and trunk. Although Ninham fled the scene, police were able to track him using information from some of the other teens.

Crapeau received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 50 years. Prior to Ninham's sentence, it was discovered that Ninham's family-life was riddled with substance abuse and domestic violence. Additionally, it was found that Ninham himself was a heavy drug user. While these facts were taken into account during sentencing, the judge also took into account the impact that the crime had on the victim's family and the community.

According to Wisconsin law, any person ten years of age and older can be tried as an adult in homicide cases. Those convicted of first-degree intentional homicide automatically receive a sentence of life in prison. Because capital punishment is a prohibited form of punishment in Wisconsin, the only issue to decide at sentencing was whether or not Ninham would be eligible for parole. In 2005, the Supreme Court set forth the judgment that the sentencing of a juvenile to the death penalty is unconstitutional and just last year, a Supreme Court ruling determined that the sentence of life without parole is unconstitutional for anything less than homicide. However, even in cases of homicide, juvenile offenders almost never receive the ultimate sentence.

Ninham's attorney, Byron Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative has said that he will appeal to the US Supreme Court. ''Children are different than adults. Even when children commit very serious crimes, like the crime in this case, we have to think about their crime differently,'' said Stevenson. Yet, in their 5-2 decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court noted that Ninham failed to prove that those 14-years-of-age and younger should receive different considerations in homicide cases.