BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Latest on a parole decision involving Henry Montgomery, who won a Supreme Court appeal on juvenile sentencing (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
The lawyer for a Louisiana inmate at the center of a landmark Supreme Court case says his client is disappointed he wasn’t granted parole but is not giving up.
Keith Nordyke spoke Thursday after a board denied parole for Henry Montgomery.
The 72-year-old Montgomery was 17 when he killed a sheriff’s deputy in 1963. He was at the center of a case in which the Supreme Court later ruled that mandatory sentencing of juveniles to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional.
He has since been granted hearings. But he’s been rejected twice for parole. In 2018, board members said he needed to take part in more prison programs - a reason repeated Thursday. But Nordyke says officials haven’t given specifics about the programs they want Montgomery to take.
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10:55 a.m.
The grandson of a sheriff’s deputy killed in 1963 says a board’s decision to reject parole for the man who killed his grandfather was “fair.”
J.P. deGravelles spoke after the Thursday hearing during which the board denied Henry Montgomery’s parole bid.
The 72-year-old was convicted of killing a sheriff’s deputy in 1963 when he was 17. He was sentenced to life without parole.
The Supreme Court later ruled that mandatory sentencing of juvenile offenders to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional. And then in 2016 in Montgomery’s case they extended that decision retroactively.
But twice now, Montgomery has been denied parole.
deGravelles said there were no “winners or losers” Thursday but that Montgomery is “right where he needs to be.”
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10 a.m.
A Louisiana board has denied parole to the man at the center of a landmark Supreme Court case about sentencing for juvenile offenders.
The three-member board voted 2-1 on Thursday in Henry Montgomery’s favor, but parole decisions must be unanimous.
The 72-year-old Montgomery was convicted of killing an East Baton Rouge sheriff’s deputy named Charles Hurt in 1963. Montgomery was 17 at the time.
Montgomery was sentenced to life without parole and spent decades at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola before the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory sentencing of juvenile offenders to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional.
In 2016, the court decided in Montgomery’s case to make their decision retroactive, entitling him to a hearing. A parole board last year denied Montgomery parole, but his lawyer applied for a rehearing and it was granted. Now he’s been denied again.
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1:15 a.m.
The man at the center of a landmark Supreme Court case about sentencing for juvenile offenders is up for parole.
A three-member board will hear the case of Henry Montgomery on Thursday.
The 72-year-old Montgomery was convicted of killing an East Baton Rouge sheriff’s deputy named Charles Hurt in 1963. Montgomery was 17 at the time.
Montgomery was sentenced to life without parole and spent decades at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
Then the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory sentencing of juvenile offenders to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional.
In 2016, the court decided in Montgomery’s case to make their decision retroactive.
A parole board last year denied Montgomery parole, but his lawyer applied for a rehearing and it was granted.
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This story corrects last name of deceased sheriff’s deputy to Hurt, not Hunt.
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