FLINT, Mich. (AP) - An 18-year-old Flint man will spend 40 to 60 years in prison for the murder of an elderly woman when he was 14.
WEYI-TV reports that Mark Jones was sentenced Friday in Genesee County Circuit Court.
Merlyne Wray was 73 in 2010 when she was robbed and shot in her home. A jury convicted Jones in November of first-degree murder.
Judge Archie Hayman had the discretion of sentencing Jones to life in prison without parole or a certain number of years following a U.S. Supreme Court decision banning automatic no-parole sentences for murders committed by minors.
Jones’ attorneys have said he deserved a sentence that gave him a shot at parole. Prosecutors disagreed.
Jones’ lawyers said he lacked the “essential opportunities” to thrive during a troubled childhood.
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