Authorities verified to Fox News Digital that a Minnesota man who was found guilty of killing a woman and her 10-year-old boy in Minneapolis in 2008 was handed down to 2 consecutive life sentences with the chance of release on Friday.
According to a notification from the Ramsey County District Attorney’s office to Fox News Digital, Brian Flowers, 32, assisted his partner, Stephon Edward Thompson, 10, in the stabbing killings of Katricia Daniels and her young son Robert Shepard, 10. Flowers was 16 at the time.
Flowers was accused as a minor, therefore his original sentence did not allow for parole; nevertheless, he is now eligible for release as a result of federal and state legal amendments made throughout the Obama administration during 2012 and 2016.
If not for a state law amendment earlier this year that says criminals facing consecutive life sentences are qualified in 15 years, he could become eligible for parole in 2038, or thirty years later.
The Minnesota Supreme Court decided in 2010 that Flowers was “a long way less” responsible for the killings than Thompson. This information was mentioned in an announcement provided to Fox News Digital by Ramsey County District Attorney John Choi, whom he took away pursuing the case from Hennepin County.
He stated that his staff concluded that Flowers’ sentences should be served concurrently rather than repeatedly, as they were initially given.
Since we had nothing to do with the protracted and controversial battle that this case created for more than 11 years, we might separately examine Mr. Flowers’ responsibility and, in perspective, take advantage of previous judicial rulings and the major modifications to Federal and State laws that took place throughout this lengthy litigation,” Choi stated.
“The legislation is a reflection of our community’s principles, and if it improves, it provides crucial guidance on how we, as prosecutors, should make decisions,” he continued. The fact that the Minnesota Supreme Court found in 2010 after an appeal that Mr. Flowers had significantly less of a role in this case than his co-defendant is noteworthy in our opinion. We reviewed this case over the past ten months and reached a similar conclusion.
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