Conviction upheld in slaying of lawyer’s wife:

Yesterday the California court of appeals upheld the conviction of Scott Dyleski. As you may recall Dyleski was convicted of killing Pam Vitale, wife of famed attorney Daniel Horowitz. In 2005 at the age of 16 Dyleski bludgeoned and stabbed Pam Vitale to death and carved a symbol into her back. He was tried as an adult and sentenced to life without parole. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth (not from me) because a 16-year-old was sentenced to LWOP.

His defense tried appealing the conviction based mostly on the contention that sentencing Dyleski to LWOP was cruel and unusual punishment. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco disagreed…

“Youthful immaturity does not begin to explain a crime of such brutality,” wrote Justice Sandra Margulies. “Despite defendant’s age, we cannot say that a sentence of LWOP (life without parole) is disproportionate under either the United States or California proscriptions against cruel and unusual punishment, given the nature of the crime and the lack of significant mitigating factors.”

Let’s not forget that what Dyleski did to Pam Vitale was more than cruel and unusual and she was given a death sentence when she committed no crime.