The State of California recently passed legislation (Senate Bill
No. 1391) that effectively eliminated the practice of prosecuting 14 and 15
year old offenders in adult court, and it made this change retroactive for
cases in which the judgments are not yet final. It did not, however, extend
that same retroactive effect to cases in which the judgments are finalized,
such as Petitioner's case. The questions for this Court are:

(1). Given that the legislation's lack of retroactive effect for finalized
cases has the result of granting a group of individuals (the 14
year old offenders whom are affected by the bill) several fundamental
rights that it denies other similarly situated persons (the 14 year
old offenders who committed the same offenses, or intrinsically
the same quality of offenses, but who are not affected by the bill),
does this legislative amendment violate the Equal Protection Clause
of the Fourteenth Amendment?

(2). If so, did the State courts err in denying Petitioner habeas corpus
relief on his claim that failing to extend the benefits of the bill
to him violates his federal right to equal protection of the law?If the State courts did err, would the appropriate remedy be to
declare the statute a nullity, or to extend the benefits to
Petitioner?

Whether the retroactive application of California's Senate Bill No. 1391 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment