Robert Howard

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ADVANCE FOR USE MONDAY, JULY 31, 2017 AND THEREAFTER-This 2015 photo provided by Pearl Erata shows her and her nephew, Robert Howard, during a family visit to him in Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, La. Since his imprisonment at the age of 15, Howard studied law, pursuing clemency and commutation, and when the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory life without parole for juveniles was unconstitutional, he gained confidence. In January 2016, the Supreme Court said its earlier ruling was retroactive, forcing Louisiana and other states to begin reviewing the sentences of juvenile lifers. But not Howard, who died five months earlier. "We thought he was going to get out when the Supreme Court passed that first juvenile law," said his cousin, Maple Gaines. "His one wish was that he didn't want to die in prison." (Courtesy Pearl Erata via AP)