Juvenile lifers get chance at new sentences
Karen McDonald files 22 notices for another ruling
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald has granted 22 individuals, who were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles, the opportunity for a resentencing hearing.
On Tuesday, McDonald filed 22 notices for resentencing in accordance with the Hill v. Whitmer class action settlement (2016), which gave county prosecutors a deadline (Monday) to review the “juvenile lifer” sentences and commit to a timeline for resentencing hearings for eligible individuals. The State’s settlement was made in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama, a ruling that retroactively banned sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders, but one that still allows for such sentences only in the most extreme cases.
Of the 27 Oakland County “juvenile lifer” cases eligible for review under the Hill v. Whitmer settlement, McDonald withdrew motions to re-impose life without parole for 20 cases. Those motions were filed by former county prosecutor Jessica Cooper, who initially re-imposed life sentences in 44 of the 47 juvenile lifer cases following the Supreme Court ruling.
Once a court has resentenced the 20 individuals to appropriate timebound sentences, the individuals may be eligible for a parole hearing. Individuals who have already served decades in prison could become eligible for parole within several months, according to McDonald.
McDonald said the prosecutor’s office is seeking additional information for the remaining five juvenile lifer cases.
“As prosecutor, my primary obligation is to keep Oakland County communities safe and to follow the law,” she said. “In rendering these decisions, I am obeying the Constitution, and pursuing sentences that will keep our communities safe until these individuals are no longer a threat.”
Following Miller v. Alabama, Oakland County had 49 juvenile life without parole cases to review, the second-most in the State behind Wayne County (145).
At the time of the Miller v. Alabama decision in 2012, Michigan had 363 juvenile life without parole sentences, the second-highest total in the country according to the Juvenile Sentencing Project (Pennsylvania-525). Michigan, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Florida account for about 80 percent of juvenile lifer without parole sentences in the United States, even though 26 states allow for the sentence.
In November, the advocacy group Human Rights for Kids released a new report that outlines how each state stacks up against the others when it comes to its juvenile justice system. Michigan is among 15 states ranked as being the “worst human rights offenders,” which is defined as a “state that has made little to no effort to protect the human rights of children in the justice system and is likely in violation of international human rights standards.”
Michigan is one of four states where 17-year-olds are automatically tried, sentenced and incarcerated as adults, regardless of their offense. This year, Michigan will be taken off that shortlist when a new law goes into effect on Oct. 22.
In October 2019, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the “Raise The Age” legislation into law. The new law raises the age from 17 to 18 at which someone would be automatically prosecuted as an adult for criminal offenses. While most crimes will be subject to the updated age threshold, violent offenses could still be prosecuted as an adult under the prosecutor’s discretion.
Last week, the longestserving juvenile lifer in the country, Joe Ligon, 83, of Philadelphia, walked out of Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institution Phoenix after serving 68 years in prison. He was sentenced to life without parole at the age of 15.
In March 2019, Sheldry Topp, Michigan’s oldest and longest-serving juvenile lifer, was granted release. In 1962, at the age of 17, Topp was convicted of stabbing and murdering Charles Davis of Auburn Hills during a home break-in.