OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington state Supreme Court has overturned the automatic life-without-parole sentences given to two young killers.
The men committed the crimes when they were 19 and 20, which the court says is too young for such sentences to apply.
Kurtis Monschke and Dwayne Bartholomew were convicted in separate cases of aggravated first-degree murder, which under state law was punishable only by the death penalty or a life sentence.
The court has since struck down capital punishment as unconstitutional and says judges must consider the youth of such defendants in deciding whether to sentence them to life without release.