Teen killer, now 56, seeks new sentence

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PHILADELPHIA, July 3 (UPI) -- A 56-year-old man who has spent his entire adult life in a Pennsylvania prison for a killing when he was 16 has petitioned for a new sentencing.

Pennsylvania has 480 people serving life without parole for crimes committed as juveniles, more than any other state. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week mandatory life sentences for juvenile killers are unconstitutional.

Tyrone Jones' lawyers filed the appeal Monday, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

Jones' supporters say there are also grave doubts about his guilt. He was arrested in May 1973 soon after Henry Harrison was gunned down in North Philadelphia in a gang killing and told police he was the shooter, but the gun he gave investigators did not match the one used in the crime, and witnesses failed to identify him.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project is working to reverse his conviction. In the meantime, Hayes Hunt, his pro bono lawyer, has asked the Court of Common Pleas to reconsider the sentence.

The Supreme Court said judges can still impose life without parole but must have discretion to give a lesser sentence.