WASHINGTON - JUVENILE RESENTENCED

June 8, 2018:

June 8, 2018 - WASHINGTON - The last juvenile to receive the death penalty in Washington was re-sentenced to 48 years in prison Friday. Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Sally Olsen sentenced Michael Furman to a minimum of 48 years to life, which means he will be eligible for release in about 18 years. He has already served about 30 years. Furman was 17 when he raped and killed 85-year-old Ann Presler in her home on April 27, 1989. In 1990, Furman was charged as an adult and was sentenced to death after a jury found him guilty of aggravated 1st-degree murder. However, the state Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juveniles in 1993, and Furman was given a sentence of life in prison without parole. A 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Miller vs. Alabama, found that juveniles convicted of aggravated murder cannot be automatically sentenced to life in prison. The decision held that sentencing courts must consider juveniles' "diminished culpability" before handing down a life sentence. The ruling allowed Furman and 30 other inmates in the state to be resentenced. Furman was 2 months shy of his 18th birthday when he killed Presler. (Source: Kitsap Sun, 08/06/2018)