DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Iowa Supreme Court has vacated a lower court’s sentence of a man convicted of murder in 1992 as a juvenile.
The court ruled Friday in the case of Eric William Querrey, who was convicted of first-degree murder in 1992 at age 15. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling rejected mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles convicted of murder, Querrey sought to be resentenced. A district court sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole until after he’d served 35 years.
Querrey appealed to the Supreme Court, which found the sentence wasn’t proper and returned the case to district court.
Querrey’s attorney, Jane M. White, says the ruling reflects a national trend of treating juvenile offenders differently than adults.
The attorney general’s office didn’t return a message seeking comment.
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