A Louisiana man whose Supreme Court case allowed hundreds of juveniles sentenced to life without parole to be freed was released Wednesday after having served nearly 58 years in prison.
The man, Henry Montgomery, 75, was convicted of murdering East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Hurt in 1963, when he was 17 years old, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The Associated Press reported that board member Tony Marabella said during the vote:"He’s been in prison for 57 years. He has an excellent ... disciplinary record. He is a low risk by our assessment. He’s got good comments from the warden. He has a very good prison record." Hundley said it says a lot about Montgomery’s character"that he was happy and full of grace in knowing that people were able to come home after the U.S. Supreme Court decision that holds his name."
The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional. The decision said in part that science showed that"it is increasingly clear that adolescent brains are not yet fully mature in regions and systems related to higher-order executive functions such as impulse control, planning ahead, and risk avoidance."
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