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Coverage from across Michigan and the state Capitol with the Michigan Public Radio Network and Interlochen Public Radio.

State Supreme Court To Hear Case On Juveniles Serving Life

Prison fence.
WFIU Public Radio/Flickr

The Michigan Supreme Court will decide whether more than 300 inmates sentenced to life without parole for murders committed while they were juveniles are entitled to parole hearings.

Whatever the court decides will be instrumental in how Michigan complies with the US Supreme Court’s Miller v. Alabama decision that struck down automatic life without parole sentences for minors. The decision still allows life without parole sentences for minors. But it said courts have to hold hearings to decide whether there are circumstances such as abuse, neglect, or coercion that should be considered as a part of sentencing.

A Michigan Supreme Court decision could resolve an impasse in the Legislature on whether the decision applies only to current and future cases, or if it applies retroactively. That would affect roughly 360 juvenile lifers who were serving when the Miller decision was handed down last summer.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has fought retroactively applying the decision to past cases. He says it would be needlessly cruel to families of murder victims who thought their cases were settled and done.

In something of a surprise, the Michigan Supreme Court also agreed to decide whether minors convicted of aiding and abetting in a murder can be given life-without-parole sentences – or if that violates the state constitution’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment. 

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987. His journalism background includes stints with UPI, The Elizabeth (NJ) Daily Journal, The (Pontiac, MI) Oakland Press, and WJR. He is also a lifelong public radio listener.