LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Supreme Court is considering whether to grant a new sentencing hearing to a man convicted of capital murder as a teenager for a 1995 West Memphis slaying.
Lawyers for Ulonzo Gordon argue that their client was 17 at the time of the killing and that he deserves a new sentencing after a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders to be unconstitutional.
But the Arkansas attorney general's office argues that prosecutors believed that Gordon was born in 1976, not 1977, making him 18 at the time of the killing.
Gordon is now 37. A circuit court has granted Gordon a new sentencing, and the Arkansas Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments in the case Thursday morning.