Fayette judges stay appeals of juvenile lifers
Fayette County judges have stayed the post-conviction appeals of four men serving life sentences for murders they committed as juveniles while awaiting the outcome of a case before the state Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, President Judge Gerald R. Solomon agreed to stay Christopher Duncan’s appeal, brought under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlaws mandatory life-without-parole sentences for those convicted of first or second-degree murder for crimes committed when they were juveniles. Duncan, now 24, was 16 when he shot and killed a man in Uniontown in 2005. His conviction is the most recent of the four men who have asked county judges to apply the Supreme Court ruling to their cases.
County judges have already stayed appeals brought by Courtney Richardson, now 49, who was 17 when he was charged with beating a Republic man to death; Joseph Metts, now 38, was 17 when he was charged with fatally shooting a Uniontown woman and Terrance Kronk, now 53, was 17 when he was charged with participating in the fatal shooting of a man in Masontown.
For more information, read Wednesday’s HeraldStandard.com.