Convicted Murderer of Avon Man Could Be Resentenced for 1999 Crime

One of the men convicted of killing a former Avon resident in 1999 could be resentenced because he was a juvenile when he committed the crime, according to FoxCT.

Kyle Holden was 30 and living in town when Jamaal Coltherst and Carl Johnson killed him in East Hartford.

His familly is seeking answers after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling could lighten Coltherst's sentence, according to the television station.

"Worse day of my life. My wife is still under doctor's care 13 years later," Holden's father, Jack, of Portland, told FoxCT. "They took his car, his wallet, his money, his ATM (card), his watch, everything, and they murdered him for no reason."

While the perpetrators were sentenced to life without parole, according to FoxCT, the Hartford Courant reported in June that Coltherst – who was 17 when he and Johnson murdered Kyle Holden – was one of five convicted killers eligible for resentencing because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision made that month. 

In Miller v. Alabama, argued in March and decided June 25, the Supreme Court ruled that the "Eighth Amendment forbids a sentencing scheme that mandates life in prison without possibility of parole for juvenile homicide offenders," according to the Supreme Court decision.

In a Connecticut draft bill of a "juvenile sentence reconsideration proposal," legislators examined the state's current law that holds people under 18 subject to the "same parole rules as adults," making them "ineligible for parole for certain crimes." There's a mandatory "sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release" for individuals "convicted of a capital felony" even if the person is a juvenile. One of the provisions in the proposal would allow juveniles to be eligible for parole after "serving one-half of their sentence or ten years, whichever is greater." For more information, click on the link provided.

After the Holdens consulted with State Victim Advocate Michelle Cruz and had several failed attempts to speak with a prosecutor, Hartford State's Attorney Gail Hardy has agreed to meet with Holden's family, according to FoxCT.