Life sentence stands in sub shop kidnapping, slaying in Eastpointe
LANSING (AP) — A life sentence will stand for a man who was a teenager when he was involved in a notorious kidnapping and murder that began at a sandwich shop in Macomb County, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled.
The court heard arguments in March but decided to drop the appeal of Ihab Masalmani with a two-sentence order. Chief Justice Bridget McCormack, joined by two other justices, disagreed with the result in a ruling handed down recently.
In 2009, Matt Landry, 21, was abducted from a fast-food parking lot in Eastpointe. His body was found days later in a burned-out Detroit house.
Masalmani, who was 17 at the time, has twice been sentenced in Macomb County to life in prison, the latest in 2015 after the U.S. Supreme Court said teenagers can’t be given a no-parole term without a full airing of their childhood and other factors.
McCormack said “Masalmani’s crime was vicious.” But she said he deserved to have another hearing where Judge Diane Druzinski could again weigh certain factors outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court that might give a young offender a chance at parole.
“The trial court’s sentencing decision must be a reasonable and principled outcome based on case-specific detailed factual circumstances. That did not occur here,” McCormack said.
She said she was troubled by Druzinski’s analysis of Masalmani’s potential for rehabilitation in prison. He’s now 28.
“The trial court cited the state’s inability to provide Masalmani with rehabilitative treatment — a fact completely out of Masalmani’s control — as a justification for his lifelong incarceration,” McCormack said.
Kimble Center for Legal Drafting releases first public document
The Kimble Center for Legal Drafting at Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School has released its first public document — a medical power of attorney.
The full form is available for download on the center’s website.
The document has been 18 months in the making and went through more than 50 drafts. It was reviewed by elder-law attorneys, doctors and the center’s international board of advisers.
The next step will be testing with actual users at Michigan State University’s department of Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting.
“Although it would have been preferable to wait until after testing to make the form available,” said the center’s senior director, Distinguished Prof. Emeritus Joseph Kimble, “current circumstances created a more immediate need. Everybody should have a medical power of attorney.”
The center is partnering with Michigan Legal Help, which offers helpful information and forms on its website, now including this medical power of attorney.
The center was created by WMU-Cooley Law School in 2018. It was named after Professor Kimble, who taught legal writing and drafting at the school for more than 30 years.
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