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MA: Judge troubled by life term for juvenile but won't reduce conviction

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Odgren loses bid for lower sentence Judge troubled by life term, but won?t reduce conviction By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | September 16, 2010 Citing her legal limitations, a Superior Court judge refused yesterday to alter the conviction of John Odgren, the mentally troubled teenager who was sentenced in April to life in prison for killing a fellow high school student three years ago. But the controversy over the teen?s sentencing may not be over. In a 12-page decision, Middlesex Superior Court Judge S. Jane Haggerty also raised concern with the idea of sending a juvenile to prison for life without the eligibility of parole, even for murder, an issue that has been on the radar screen of youth advocates in recent years. ?As a judge, one troublesome issue in this case lies not in the verdict but in the sentence,?? Haggerty said, adding that, ?There is tragedy in a sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of a parole for a 16-year-old offender in the circumstances of the defendant...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on September 16, 2010 (boomark / email).