Life- term- relief bill for teens advances

Senate lawmakers approved legislation Tuesday to soften life- without- parole sentences for inmates sent away as teens, a plan that would bring the state in line with recent U. S. Supreme Court decisions.

The high court declared such sentences unconstitutional in 2012, and another ruling last year said that a ban on the practice should apply retroactively. Since then, prosecutors have had to seek re- sentencing individually for inmates sent away for life, with no chance at parole, before they turned 18.

Senate Bill 294 — which passed the upper chamber 22- 4 Tuesday — removes the need for individual re- sentencing by allowing people sentenced as minors to life for murder to be eligible for parole after 20 or 30 years, depending on their level of culpability.

That would save the state time and money, said Sen. Missy Irvin, R- Mountain View, the sponsor of the legislation. She said about 110 inmates would be affected by her bill, which now goes to the House.

Some relatives of victims want re- sentencing hearings, said Sen. Trent Garner, R- El Dorado. He voted against the bill, he said, at the request of the family of Alpha Leona Cameron, who was shot and killed in Garner’s district in 1994. One of the convicted killers, Steven Miller, was 16 at the time and remains in prison.