UPDATE: In February 2022, the Tenth Circuit agreed with Mr. Thomas and sent the case back down to proceed in district court. The MacArthur Justice Center is proud to represent Mr. Thomas in partnership with Kirkland & Ellis as we seek to ensure that juvenile offenders like Mr. Thomas have the real possibility of release that the Supreme Court’s cases guarantee.
Dwain Thomas was 15 years old when he received a life sentence. In theory, he should have been eligible for parole when he was 30. In practice, Oklahoma’s so-called parole system is basically a system of executive clemency, where the only prisoners who get release on parole are those whom the governor decides to grant leniency to.
Mr. Thomas filed a lawsuit arguing that because he was a juvenile when he committed his crime, he is entitled to a “meaningful opportunity for release” under the Supreme Court’s cases. Oklahoma’s parole system doesn’t give him that meaningful opportunity—there are no guidelines about what the parole system must consider, petitioners are never told why their cases have been rejected, and the governor must sign off on any parole recommendations.
The district court dismissed Mr. Thomas’s case. The MacArthur Justice Center, along with a team from Kirkland & Ellis, are proud to represent Mr. Thomas on appeal before the Tenth Circuit and to build off the success of other MJC cases like Brown v. Precythe.