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Judge sides against juvenile lifers in re-sentencing challenge

Public domain

More than 360 Michigan inmates have been dealt a setback.

The prisoners were all sentenced to automatic life without parole as teenagers. The U.S. Supreme Court says that's unconstitutional.

So local prosecutors were set to re-sentence those Michigan inmates. 

Attorneys for those prisoners objected. They worried local prosecutors would routinely seek life without parole during re-sentencing, and argued the Supreme Court decision should prevent that.

But Judge John Corbett O'Meara disagreed.

The punishment is still possible -- but only after a hearing when a judge can learn more about a defendant's background.

Sarah Hulett is Michigan Public's Director of Amplify & Longform, helping reporters to do their best work.
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