GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Brown County judge on Monday heard arguments for giving a Green Bay man currently serving a life prison sentence without parole a new parole hearing.
That’s the case being made on behalf of Omer Ninham.
“There is actually enough information in the record that the court could conclude he is not one of those rare juvenile offenders who is beyond eruptible corruption, but at a minimum I think he’s entitled to a new hearing,” Alicia D’Addario, Ninham’s defense attorney, said according to FOX 11.
Back in 1998, Ninham was just 14 when he was convicted of pushing 13-year-old Zong Vang off the St. Vincent Hospital parking ramp causing Vang’s death.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that people serving life terms with no parole for murders they committed as teenagers must have a chance to seek their freedom.
“(The ruling) did not address specifically the Wisconsin law which would be a discretionary decision by the court that there can be lifetime in prison without the possibility of parole,” said Judge Kendall Kelley.
The defense on Monday focused mainly on Ninham’s rehabilitation, saying he was just a child when he was sentenced.
“Life without parole should be extraordinarily rare for a child because we don’t know; it’s very hard to predict how a child will develop over time,” D’Addario said.
However, the state argued no matter his age the crime was violent and said Ninham actions during the original trial proved that.
“It didn’t reflect transit immaturity, they were calculated as the case went on, premeditated as he made threats against people who needed to testify for state to win the conviction; his danger is very clear cut,” said prosecuting attorney, Mary Kerrigan-Mares.
Judge Kelly says reviewing the case will take time and said then he will determine if a new hearing would take place. He said he will then issue a written decision, but when that decision will be made is undetermined.
Another man, Richard Crapeau, who was 13 at the time, was also sentenced to life in prison for Vang’s death, but he has parole eligibility after serving 50 years.
