Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds life without parole for young teen

Bruce Vielmetti:

Omer Ninham was just 14 when he was part of a gang that threw a 13-year-old Hmong boy to his death from the top of a Green Bay parking garage in 1998.

On Friday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld his life-without-parole sentence over arguments that recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings and new science about adolescent brain development demand Ninham deserves at least a chance for release later in life.

Justice Annette Ziegler wrote the majority opinion; Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson dissented, joined by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.

"Under the circumstances of this case, Ninham's punishment is severe, but it is not disproportionately so," Ziegler wrote.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 22, 2011 1:12 AM
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