Dennis v. State, 300 Ga. 457

In 1998 Robert James Dennis (age 17 at the time of the offense) pled guilty to multiple charges, including malice murder, and was sentenced to life without parole for malice murder.
In 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Miller v. Alabama, ruling mandatory life-without-parole for juveniles violates the Eighth Amendment absent individualized consideration of youth-related factors.
Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016) clarified Miller is retroactive and requires a hearing considering "youth and its attendant characteristics" to separate the small class of juveniles for whom LWOP may be proportionate.
The State moved in 2015 to amend Dennis’s sentence under Miller/Montgomery; at a December 9, 2015 resentencing hearing the trial court reduced Dennis’s sentence from life without parole to life with the possibility of parole.
Dennis appealed pro se, challenging the resentencing; the only properly presented issue was whether the trial court erred by reducing his sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred in reducing Dennis’s LWOP sentence to life with parole	Dennis argued the trial court lacked authority to resentence him (and raised other unrelated claims)	State argued Miller/Montgomery voided the original LWOP and authorized resentencing; State properly moved to amend sentence	Court held resentencing was proper; original LWOP was void under Miller/Montgomery and resentencing to life with parole was lawful

Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012) (mandatory LWOP for juveniles unconstitutional without individualized consideration of youth)
Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016) (Miller applies retroactively; requires hearing to consider youth characteristics when sentencing juveniles)
Veal v. State, 298 Ga. 691 (2016) (state courts must apply Miller retroactively; juvenile LWOP imposed without required findings is void)
Crumbley v. State, 261 Ga. 610 (1991) (a void sentence may be corrected or resentenced at any time)
Williams v. State, 271 Ga. 686 (1999) (court authority to correct illegal or void sentences)
State v. Barrow, 332 Ga. App. 353 (2015) (State may move to vacate or correct a defendant’s sentence)