DETROIT (AP) — More than 300 Michigan prisoners serving no-parole sentences will likely have an opportunity for release after a major decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court says prisoners who have been locked up for years must benefit from a 2012 ruling that outlawed automatic no-parole sentences as cruel punishment for first-degree murder.
It applies to people convicted of murder when they were teenagers.
Ann Arbor attorney Deborah LaBelle said the reaction has been “tears of joy” in Michigan prisons.
At 71, Sheldry Topp is the oldest state inmate serving a no-parole sentence for murder as a teen. He’s been in prison for 53 years.
Roughly 350 prisoners are affected. It’s unclear whether they will get parole hearings or new sentences.
- Posted January 28, 2016
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Juvenile lifers could get a shot at parole
headlines Macomb
headlines National
- Play-Based Learning: Can simulation games help lawyers learn management and business development skills?
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Court orders hospital to resume gender-affirming care for transgender kids
- Netflix’s ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ will rest his case at end of season 5
- Woman gives birth during arraignment in NYC courtroom
- SCOTUS will examine scope of Title IX protections and whether civil rights law covers work bias claims
