PDF People v. Poole
In 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court held in People v. Parks that mandatory LWOP sentences for people who were age 18 at the time of the crime violate the Michigan Constitution. However, the Court did not decide in that case whether this applied to people who were already serving LWOP sentences. Instead, it sent People v. Poole (this case) back to the Michigan Court of Appeals to make that determination. The Michigan Court of Appeals concluded that the Parks decision does apply retroactively. Several counties were already interpreting the Parks decision to apply retroactively, but the Poole decision means that statewide, people who were subject to mandatory LWOP sentences for crimes that they committed when they were 18 will be resentenced.