An appeals court has tossed out the life prison sentence imposed on Michael Hernandez, convicted of killing his best friend, Jaime Gough, in a Florida middle school restroom when both were 14.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that Hernandez must get a new sentencing hearing because a judge imposed a mandatory life prison term in the case. While Hernandez's appeal was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that mandatory life sentences cannot be imposed on juveniles.
Download: Court of Appeal ruling
"It means that anybody who was convicted, any juvenile that was convicted prior to 2012 and was given a life sentence for murder, has at least the opportunity to ask for re-sentencing. If they get re-sentenced though, they're not going to get mandatory life with no chance parole, but they'll still get very long sentences" said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University. "It comes down to whether or not you think that you want to live in a society where children are locked away, never to see the light of day again, and it really depends upon whether you believe that there's an opportunity while imprisoned to be rehabilitated. If you believe in a very strict 'eye for an eye' type of justice, then you would be outraged by this decision, but if you believe that children can be rehabilitated, you welcome this decision."
Hernandez was convicted in 2008 for the killing four years earlier of Gough at Southwood Middle School near Miami. Gough was stabbed 42 times. Hernandez confessed to the killing but then mounted an insanity defense that was rejected by jurors.
Testimony showed Hernandez had a hit list that included Gough.