About 300 Louisiana inmates spending their lives in prison
for murders committed as teens are turning to the courts after the Legislature
failed to address their sentences, which were declared unconstitutional by the
U.S. Supreme Court in January, reported The Advocate.
A bill that would’ve given the inmates a shot at parole
after serving at least 30 years died at the end of the regular Legislative
session amid eleventh-hour negotiations and an unrelated spat between
the state House and Senate.
Each of the inmates will now need to petition district
judges for new sentences individually, prosecutors and defense attorneys say.
If district attorneys again seek sentences of life without parole, each
defendant is entitled to a full-blown sentencing hearing, including expert
testimony and evidence about their home lives, schooling and mindset at the
time of the crimes, many of them decades in the past.
The court battles and hearings pose complex legal challenges
that could drag on for years and cost an already strained legal system millions
of dollars. With budgets stretched for many district attorneys and with local
public defenders in many parishes turning away clients because of a lack of
funding, many say the flood of cases couldn’t have come at a worse time.
To read more CLICK HERE
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment