Tell Us: Should Kids Who Kill Get Mandatory Life Sentences?
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on convicted juvenile killers could affect the 1995 Salisbury murder case involving the Freeman brothers.
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In 1995, two brothers who hadn't even graduated from high school stabbed and bludgeoned their parents and younger brother to death.
And for those crimes, Bryan and David Freeman of Salisbury Township, then 17 and 16, were given mandatory life sentences without parole.
In 2006, a boy who wasn't even old enough to drive shot and killed another teenager in Easton as part of a gang initiation.
And for that crime, 14-year-old Qu'eed Batts was sentenced -- as required by state law -- to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that such state laws are unconstitutional. The 5-4 ruling doesn't eliminate life-without-parole sentences for juveniles, but it does bar states from making them automatic.
And although the court's ruling was based on murder cases from Alabama and Arkansas, it could also affect cases in the Lehigh Valley.
What do you think? Do you agree with the Supreme Court's ruling? Take our poll, and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Carl W
3:11 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2012
The Freeman brothers were raised by mentally demented & negative, mind-altering parents, pushed in to associations with other such people, and having crazy stuff crudely forced on them all their lives, and we expect them not to explode???
Good reason to investigated that church, and get it dispersed. (Imagine how many kids suffering, who haven't thusly exploded. Remember, in school, they sit next to yours).