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KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Hundreds of Michigan prison inmates, who were convicted of murder as juveniles, may be resentenced and possibly released.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned decades of legal precedent by ruling that mandatory “life without parole” prison sentences for juvenile defendants are unconstitutional – as they violate the eight amendments prohibition of “cruel and unusual” punishment.
Then, in late July, the Michigan Supreme Court took that a step further and ordered that the case files of juveniles convicted of second degree murder and give long prison sentences must also be reviewed.
Kent County Prosecutor, and immediate past President of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, Chris Becker says that represents an enormous workload, and there has been very little direction provided to Michigan’s 83 county prosecutors.
“There are absolutely no guidelines. There’s no rhyme or reason,” Becker said.
The state supreme court’s opinion, issued in April, doesn’t provide sentencing recommendations, essentially leaving the fate of hundreds of Michigan prison inmates squarely on the shoulders of county prosecutors and circuit court judges.
It will be their job to determine how much time convicts, who were sent to prison in their teens, should stay in prison and who, if anyone, should get out now.
“How long is too long,” Becker said. “Is a 30-year sentence going to be too long on a 20-year-old? I don’t know!”
One inmate whose sentence may be reconsidered is Timothy Wayne Putman.
In 1996, then 16-year-old Putman was charged with first degree murder in Ingham County for the death of his infant niece.
Putman says he had been left to babysit the 12-week-old, along with her two older sisters, when the baby began to cry uncontrollably.
“I was standing and holding against my chest, and I was like twisting from side to side,” Putman said. “Kind of like a rocking motion, but where my whole body was moving. And she just at one point she went from crying to just instant silence”
Putman, who was high on drugs at the time and had a history of mental illness, says he panicked when he realized the infant was dead.
He says there was no working phone in the house to call for help so he decided to hide the evidence.
“I ended up burying the body in the neighbor’s backyard behind the garage in pile of wood chips,” Putman said.
Soon after the baby was reported missing, Putman was arrested and confessed to his role in the baby’s death.
He took a plea deal of second degree murder and was sentenced to 30-60 years behind bars.
Now, for the first time after more than three decades behind bars, Putman is hopeful a judge will decide, based on the state supreme court’s new determination, he’s spent enough time in prison.
“I don’t feel I’m owed anything,” Putman said. “But on the other hand, I do feel that because of the changes that’s happened in me and my life and the way things have progressed, I do that I have earned the right to be offered a second chance.”
However, Becker says the families of the victims are not being considered when it comes to possibly releasing inmates who committed murder when they were under 18.
He says many of them knew right from wrong before they committed their crimes, and releasing them now could re-traumatize the victim’s surviving family members.
“It’s not a matter of is the brain fully formed,” Becker said. “Is it formed enough to know you shouldn’t kill people. All these decisions, everything that’s coming down, especially from the Michigan Supreme Court, victims are being forgotten.”
