TRAVION BLOUNT v. HAROLD W. CLARKE
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Niemeyer, May 15, 2018,
Habeas Corpus- Juvenile Life Sentence – A partial pardon reducing a juvenile’s life sentence for a non-homicide crime will make a Graham habeas petition moot

Facts:
In 2008, Travion Blount was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences plus 118 years in prison for armed robbery of a house-party in Virginia. The robbery occurred when Blount was 15 years-old. Blount’s two adult co-conspirators were sentenced to a maximum of 13 years.
In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles can’t be sentenced to life in prison for a non-homicide unless there is a meaningful ability for that juvenile to be paroled.
Blount filed a writ of habeas corpus to have a new sentencing hearing.
While that was pending, the Governor of Virginia gave Blount a partial pardon, reducing his sentence to 40 years.
Virginia then moved to dismiss Blount’s petition, since the issue was now moot (Blount was no longer sentenced to life in prison).
The district court judge denied the dismissal and granted Blount a new sentencing hearing.
Virginia appealed.
While the appeal was pending, Virginia’s governor granted Blount a second pardon reducing his sentence to 14 years on the condition that he successfully complete supervised release.

Held: The Fourth Circuit held that the habeas petition became moot after the first pardon since there was no longer an unconstitutional sentence for the court to order modified.

Mootness – A habeas petition challenging the constitutionality of the original sentence is moot if that sentence has since been modified to render it no longer unconstitutional

Mootness – A conditional pardon does not make a habeas application moot, as the conditions making it unconstitutional could be brought to bear upon violation