the case of Terrance Jamar Graham, of Jacksonville. In July 2003, he and two accomplices went to a barbecue restaurant in Jacksonville with the aim of robbing it. When the manager would not give them money, one of the youths hit him with a steel bar; Graham then fled the scene. Two months later, his father reported to police that he thought Terrance was committing burglaries with other youths.
He was arrested and charged — as an adult — with one count of burglary with an assault or battery — a first-degree felony that could have led to a maximum sentence of life. He was also charged with attempted armed robbery, a second-degree felony. He pleaded guilty to both, and was given three years on probation added to nine months in county jail.
Six months after getting out of jail, he was arrested on charges of a new felony — home-invasion robbery, and eluding police. By then, he was 17 years old. After this incident, prosecutors charged him with violating his probation for the first crime. He admitted to the eluding charge and, when asked by police, admitted other robberies. By the time his sentencing actually occurred, Terrance was 19.
The judge lectured him on his wayward life. “I don’t understand why you would be given such a great opportunity to do something with your life [a reference to the leniency on the first time] and why you would throw it away….We can’t help you any further…If I can’t do anything to help you, if I can’t do anything to get you back on the right path, then I have to start focusing on the community and trying to protect the community from your actions.” For the probation violation, the judge imposed the sentence of life without possibility of parole.