DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit-area drug dealer nicknamed “White Boy Rick,” who has been in prison for 28 years for crimes when he was a teen, is making another effort to get his sentence reduced.
The Detroit News reports a lawyer for Richard Wershe filed a petition Tuesday in U.S. District Court asking the court to reverse state court orders and send his case for immediate resentencing.
The 47-year-old Wershe is serving a life sentence with occasional opportunities for parole. Michigan’s parole board so far has declined to release him.
The petition says his no-parole sentence violates Eighth Amendment prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment as well as Michigan’s constitution. It says parole proceedings haven’t considered Wershe’s “youthfulness at the time of his offense or his demonstrated rehabilitation, growth and maturity.”
- Posted December 09, 2016
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
'White Boy Rick' pushes for reduced sentence
headlines Macomb
- Macomb County Meals on Wheels in urgent need of volunteers ahead of holiday season
- MDHHS hosting three, free virtual baby showers in November and December for new or expecting families
- MDHHS secures nearly 100 new juvenile justice placements through partnerships with local communities and providers
- MDHHS seeking proposals for student internship stipend program to enhance behavioral health workforce
- ABA webinar November 30 to explore the state of civil legal aid in America
headlines National
- Facing deadline, California debates way forward on bar exam
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Jury awards nearly $60M to former police officer for wrongful prosecution in sex assault case
- Court clerk staffers in New Orleans dig through landfill to find wrongly tossed court records
- Once-jailed county clerk asks Supreme Court to overturn right to same-sex marriage
- Person accused in machete attack among those with dropped charges amid defense lawyer work stoppage
