MOUNT CLEMENS (AP) - The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to review the life sentence of a man who was a teenager when he kidnapped a customer from a sandwich shop in a notorious Detroit-area homicide.
Ihab Masalmani twice has been sentenced to the same life term for murder.
In 2009, Matt Landry was abducted from a fast-food parking lot in Eastpointe. His body was found in a burned-out Detroit house.
Masalmani was 17 at the time. Teens no longer can be given automatic no-parole sentences. Judges must consider many factors, including an offender's background and potential for rehabilitation.
The judge who sentenced Masalmani in 2015 said he had a "terrible" childhood. But after a three-day hearing, she said he still deserved to be locked up for life.
The Supreme Court could set a key precedent for how judges handle other so-called juvenile lifer cases.
Published: Tue, Apr 09, 2019
