BOSTON (AP) - A Supreme Court ruling is opening new questions about the fate
of Massachusetts residents sentenced to life without parole for killings they
committed as juveniles.
On Monday, the court ruled it is unconstitutional for states to require
juveniles convicted of murder to be automatically sentenced to life in prison
without possibility of parole.
Several high-profile murder cases in Massachusetts have involved minors,
including Joshua Fernandes convicted last week of first-degree murder for the
May 2010 killing of a 14-year-old neighbor.
John Odgren was also sentenced to first-degree murder without parole for
stabbing another student to death at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in
2007.
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Fernandes and Odgren were both 16 at the time of the killings.
The Supreme Court decision left open the possibility judges could sentence
juveniles to life without parole in individual cases.
