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Michigan Supreme Court To Decide Fate Of 350 Prisoners

Life without parole used to be the automatic sentence for juveniles who were tried as adults and convicted of first-degree murder. That was until June of 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that automatic life without parole for juveniles was unconstitutional. But a question here in Michigan remains – what happens to more than 350 juvenile lifers here who were sent to prison before the decision? Thursday the state Supreme Court hears arguments on that question.

‘Rush To Be A Man’

Governor Rick Snyder just signed a new law this week to update Michigan’s sentencing policies to reflect that Supreme Court decision. But that doesn’t settle what happens to Matthew Bentley.

“I was 15 years old and being in a rush to be a man. I made a mistake,” he says. “And now 14 years later I’m still in prison, missing out on everything I was in a rush to get.”

Bentley spoke in a podcast provided by the American Civil Liberties Union. He shot and killed a woman during a break-in at her home. He says he would take it all back if he could.

“I sometimes think about what could have happened, what could have been different,” he says in the podcast. “There’s a possibility I could have went down a different path, had I gotten some better advice, had I been shown a better way, had I actually had a role model.”

Because of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, juveniles convicted of murder, or aiding and abetting in a murder, now must have a hearing that takes into account their circumstances – abuse or neglect, how culpable they were in the crime, things like that. The court said the absence of that made automatic life without parole for juveniles cruel and unusual punishment.

Apply The Same Logic

Now, the ACLU and three juvenile lifers are suing the state. They say if automatic life without parole is unconstitutional going forward, then that same logic should apply to those earlier 350-plus cases, some of which date back to the early 1960s.

Kimberly Thomas, a law professor with the University of Michigan’s Juvenile Justice Clinic, says we’ve learned a lot in recent years about shortcomings in how the legal system deals with juveniles. She says teenagers are often poor clients.

“It’s hard to get them to understand the choices that they’re making,” she says. “Especially when faced with what might be good plea bargains, they just aren’t making good choices.”

Thomas says representing minors is a unique set of skills that most defense attorneys just don’t have. Proof, she says, is how often juveniles get tougher sentences than adults involved in the same murders, even when the juvenile was only an accessory to the crime.

Closure For Victims

The decision in this case before the state Supreme Court will likely turn on a legal nuance. To win, the juvenile lifers have to show the U.S. Supreme Court decision represents a substantive change in their legal rights. The state, on the other hand, is arguing that it’s not – that this was a procedural decision. It has no bearing on their guilt or innocence, and that means there’s no responsibility to go back and correct their sentences.

But this is not a nuance for another group of people closely following this case.

“We’re the innocent, and we deserve some kind of closure to this…”

Jody Robinson’s brother was murdered by a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old. Don’t call that a “mistake,” she says. Robinson gets angry, visibly upset, when she hears that teens are sentenced to –quote- “die” in prison.

“They weren’t sentenced to die – period. They were sentenced to live the rest of their life in prison. They’re living. They’re not dead, and there’s a big difference between the two,” she says.

Robinson says families like hers will never get their loved ones back. She says changing the rules now would deny them the measure of peace that once came with finality in their cases. 

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.