ANN ARBOR, MI (AP)-- The state of Michigan is asking an appeals court to overturn a decision that would grant parole hearings to hundreds of prison inmates who were automatically given no-parole sentences as teens convicted of murder.
In 2013, Ann Arbor federal Judge John Corbett O'Meara said a Michigan law that denies parole opportunities for teens is unconstitutional. An appeals court suspended that decision and will hear arguments Wednesday in Cincinnati.
But it's possible the 5-year-old lawsuit could become moot by summer. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether inmates across the country serving no-parole sentences for murder as teens are entitled to new hearings.
The issue at the Supreme Court is whether to apply a 2012 decision retroactively to people behind bars.