No New Hearings for Lifers

The Michigan Supreme Court says more than 350 inmates sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed when they were juveniles will not get new hearings. In a 4-3 decision the state’s high-court ruled yesterday that a June 2012 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down mandatory life sentences for juveniles was not retroactive. The state court held that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that non-parole life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional because they constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” would apply to cases going forward but not past convictions.