558.047. Persons under eighteen, review of sentence, when, procedure. — 1. (1) Any person sentenced to a term of imprisonment for life without eligibility for parole before August 28, 2016, who was under eighteen years of age at the time of the commission of the offense or offenses, may submit to the parole board a petition for a review of his or her sentence, regardless of whether the case is final for purposes of appeal, after serving twenty-five years of incarceration on the sentence of life without parole.
(2) Any person found guilty of murder in the first degree who was sentenced on or after August 28, 2016, to a term of life imprisonment with eligibility for parole or a term of imprisonment of not less than thirty years and not to exceed forty years, who was under eighteen years of age at the time of the commission of the offense or offenses may submit to the parole board a petition for a review of his or her sentence, regardless of whether the case is final for purposes of appeal, after serving twenty-five years of incarceration, and a subsequent petition after serving thirty-five years of incarceration.
2. A copy of the petition shall be served on the office of the prosecutor in the judicial circuit of original jurisdiction. The petition shall include the person's statement that he or she was under eighteen years of age at the time of the offense, is eligible to petition under this section, and requests that his or her sentence be reviewed.
3. If any of the information required in subsection 2 of this section is missing from the petition, or if proof of service on the prosecuting or circuit attorney is not provided, the parole board shall return the petition to the person and advise him or her that the matter cannot be considered without the missing information.
4. The parole board shall hold a hearing and determine if the defendant shall be granted parole. At such a hearing, the victim or victim's family members shall retain their rights under section 595.209.
5. In a parole review hearing under this section, the board shall consider, in addition to the factors listed in section 565.033:
(1) Efforts made toward rehabilitation since the offense or offenses occurred, including participation in educational, vocational, or other programs during incarceration, when available;
(2) The subsequent growth and increased maturity of the person since the offense or offenses occurred;
(3) Evidence that the person has accepted accountability for the offense or offenses, except in cases where the person has maintained his or her innocence;
(4) The person's institutional record during incarceration; and
(5) Whether the person remains the same risk to society as he or she did at the time of the initial sentencing.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
34
cases (
17 in the last 5 years), 2017–2025 · leading case:
State v. Nathan, 522 S.W.3d 881 (Mo. 2017).
State v. Nathan, 522 S.W.3d 881 (Mo. 2017).
· cites it 23× “Contrary to the dissenting opinion’s assertion that "[t]his Court has held that it will apply [§ 558.047, RSMo. Supp. 2016] to all juvenile offenders regardless of whether they were convicted before or after Montgomery[(]" Op.”
Willbanks v. Missouri Dep't of Corr., 522 S.W.3d 238 (Mo. 2017).
· cites it 17× “The General Assembly recently enacted section 558.047, RSMo 2016, which allows juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole to apply for parole after serving 25 years.”
State v. Bassett, 428 P.3d 343 (Wash. 2018).
“Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047 (1) ; Colo. Rev.”
Norman Brown v. Anne Precythe, 46 F.4th 879 (8th Cir. 2022).
“Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047.1 (1). If an offender files a petition, then the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole must hold a hearing to determine whether he will be granted parole.”
Steward v. Lewis (E.D. Mo. 2022).
· cites it 28× “Codified at Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047 . Because of an emergency clause in the bill, § 558.”
Lotts v. Payne (E.D. Mo. 2021).
· cites it 16× “In April 2017, Lotts once again sought habeas relief in state court, arguing that Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047 was insufficient under Miller and Montgomery because it does not provide a meaningful opportunity for release and fails to provide individualized sentencing as discussed in…”
Robinson v. Lewis (E.D. Mo. 2020).
· cites it 12× “590, codified at Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047 , eliminating mandatory life sentences for juveniles and providing juveniles serving mandatory sentences of life without parole an opportunity to petition the parole board for a sentencing review after serving 25 years.”
Wolf v. Cassady (W.D. Mo. 2019).
· cites it 11× “The Court stated that due to the enactment of Missouri Revised Statute § 558.047, petitioner would be eligible for parole after serving twenty-five years of his original sentence.”
Rousan v. Cassady (E.D. Mo. 2020).
· cites it 9× “1 Although Rousan was initially parole ineligible, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047 makes him eligible to petition for parole after he has served twenty-five years on each sentence, a total of fifty years, at which time Rousan will be 69 years of age.”
Hicklin v. Blair (W.D. Mo. 2022).
· cites it 9× “Finally, Petitioner contends under the process set forth in section 558.047, RSMo 2016, she has been deprived of the federal constitutional right to jury sentencing considering the Miller factors.”
Robinson v. Lewis (E.D. Mo. 2023).
· cites it 8× “460 (2012), in spite of the enactment of Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047 and Missouri Supreme Court’s July 19, 2016 decision; 2) a Batson claim involving the strike of an African-American juror; and 3) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to offer a modified self-defense jury…”
— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047(1) — 1 case
— Mo. Rev. Stat. § 558.047(5) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.