Federal appeals court stays order on parole for Michigan juvenile lifers

LANSING (AP) -- A federal appeals court has issued a stay of a judge's ruling that could lead to parole for prisoners convicted of murders committed when they were under 18. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Monday that the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati delayed implementation of Ann Arbor U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara's order that the state start the parole review process for about 360 inmates. The judge says the prisoners deserve to benefit from a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down mandatory no-parole sentences for teens. Schuette says the decision shouldn't apply retroactively. Michigan's law for first-degree murder imposes a mandatory sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. It doesn't include an exception for killers who are under 18. Published: Fri, Dec 27, 2013