BAD AXE (AP) — A Michigan man sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a woman when he was a teenager more than 20 years ago has been resentenced.
A Huron County judge reduced 34-year-old Matthew Bentley's sentence Monday to a minimum of 32 years, with 18 years credit already served.
Bentley was resentenced because of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which says mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles are unconstitutional. The decision applied retroactively as of 2016.
Bentley was originally sentenced in 1998 for the shooting death of 54-year-old Betty Bardell in Bad Axe. He was tried as an adult and found guilty of felony murder, first-degree home invasion and felony firearms. He was 14 at the time of the killing.
The prosecutor maintains Bentley hasn't changed his ways.
- Posted September 27, 2017
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Man with juvenile life sentence gets reduced term
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