Correction: The timeline of the election of Karen McDonald as Oakland County prosecutor has been corrected. She defeated Jessica Cooper in the August primary, and was then elected by voters to the post in November.
Pontiac Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald announced Tuesday that 22 people who were convicted of murder as juveniles and sentenced to life in prison without parole would receive a chance at resentencing, leaving them eventually eligible for parole.
Based on time served, some could potentially go before the Parole Board within a few months, according to the Prosecutor s Office.
The action breaks with the Oakland County Prosecutor s Office past position on juvenile lifer sentencings. In response to past U.S. Supreme Court rulings that life without parole for youths under 18 were unconstitutional and amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, McDonald s predecessor, Jessica Cooper, sought reimposition of life sentences without parole rather than a set sen