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| Forteen |
Jason Golka was 17 when he shot and killed two men, Jay Ellis, 41, and Roscoe Jordan, 38, in a Gretna home.
The slayings, officials said, were in apparent retaliation after the two men had struck Golka in the head, sprayed his hat and face with paint and burned his forearm.
Golka pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison.
He appealed, claiming that he had ineffective defense counsel and that a life sentence for someone his age amounted to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
But the Nebraska Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman, rejected the appeal.
The court stated that a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling and rulings by other courts have upheld sentences of life in prison without parole for juvenile convicted of homicide.
The court also ruled that Golka's defense counsel, Tom Garvey, was not ineffective when he advised his client to forego a jury trial and plead guilty.
The issue of the fairness of sentencing juveniles to life sentences without parole was debated this spring in the Legislature.
Lawmakers rejected a proposal by Omaha Sen. Brenda Council that would have allowed juveniles convicted of murder to request, after 20 years in prison, a review by the State Board of Pardons.
