KENT COUNTY, Mich. — On Thursday, the Michigan Supreme Court struck down automatic, no-parole life sentences for 19- and 20-year-olds convicted of murder.
With Michigan's Supreme Court ruling, hundreds of people will now be eligible for new sentences.
“It's the victim's families that thought they had some certainty, thought this was kind of behind them, and now for a vast majority of them probably have no idea that this is even a possibility,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said.
The ruling is still new to the prosecutor.
“The thing that is most frustrating is, they say, the mind hasn't developed...,” Becker said. "The right question is, is [the mind] developed enough to know you shouldn't kill somebody."
The Kent County prosecutor has 30 years of law experience.
“This is really a big change in the whole criminal justice system and how we deal with things,” Becker added.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled no-parole life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional.
In 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court outlawed automatic no-parole life sentences for 18-year-olds. This ruling opened the door for shorter prison time or parole.
Becker’s office is still working through several of those cases.
“We agreed to re-sentence on four and ask for life without parole on four,” he added.
Becker didn't immediately have a number on how many cases under this new opinion will get re-sentenced, but he estimates his office will have to look at anywhere from 20 to 30 cases.
“We gotta follow the law. We have no choice,” Becker said. “We’ve done that for the juveniles and the 18-year-olds. I just hope at some point in time it stops. I mean they kind of denied, at this point in time, the 21-year-olds, but they kind of left it open that it could change down the road. So how long are we going to do this."
He says this is going to take time.
“It's gonna put more strain on, but that's something we've done before, and it's just something we have to deal with,” Becker said.
Becker adds his office will have six months to resubmit the recommendation for re-sentencing.
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