Judge won't intervene in resentencing of state's juvenile lifers

ANN ARBOR (AP) — A federal judge won’t stop the process of resentencing hundreds of Michigan prisoners who are serving no-parole sentences.

Judge John Corbett O’Meara has turned down a request for an injunction that would have affected so-called juvenile lifers, prisoners who were sentenced to life for murder committed when they were under 18.

They face resentencing because the U.S. Supreme Court says automatic no-parole sentences for teens are illegal.

The punishment still is possible but only after a thorough hearing at which a judge would learn more about the defendant’s background.

Lawyers for juvenile lifers claim a no-parole sentence still would be an unconstitutional punishment. But O’Meara says any challenge should first be made at the resentencing hearings in state court, not in federal court.