08/12/2026
Last week, a mother contacted our office with a simple question: should her son's parole eligibility date be earlier than listed because he was a juvenile at the time of his offenses?
Brandon Carter is serving a 100-year sentence for non-homicide offenses committed when he was a juvenile. After reviewing his sentence, Michael Kaiser contacted the Arkansas Department of Corrections and argued that, under the Fair Sentencing of Minors Act of 2017, his parole eligibility date should be 20 years.
Yesterday, ADC agreed.
Today, Brandon’s parole eligibility date is 43 years earlier than it was just one day before.
This result was possible because the law had already been established through litigation. Michael previously successfully challenged this issue in the Arkansas Supreme Court in Proctor v. Payne, 2020 Ark. 142, and in other cases.
Sometimes, justice isn’t about winning a case in a courtroom. Sometimes, it’s about knowing the law, making the right argument, and having the credibility to get an agency to do what the law requires based on years of proving it in court.
