The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld the life sentences of Christopher Robert Hicks, rejecting his claim that mandatory life without parole for “emerging adults” amounts to cruel or unusual punishment under the Wyoming Constitution.

Hicks was 19 years old when he took part in two murders in Gillette in 2005. According to court records, Hicks and several others lived with 40-year-old Kent Proffit Sr., who was awaiting trial for the sexual assault of his teenage stepson, identified as B.C.

Proffit convinced Hicks and another roommate, Jacob Martinez, that their fellow housemate, Jeremy Forquer, was cooperating with law enforcement and should be killed. Hicks placed Forquer in a chokehold while Martinez tightened a rope around his neck. After disposing of Forquer’s body, the men later consp

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