SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon judge has ruled that a 112-year sentence is not cruel and unusual punishment for Kip Kinkel, who killed four people and wounded 25 others as a 15-year-old high school student in 1998.
The Oregonian reported that Judge Thomas Hart in Salem turned down a request Thursday for a new sentencing hearing.
He rejected an argument from Kinkel’s lawyer based on federal court decisions that mandatory life sentences with no possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juveniles.
Lawyers for the state argued that Kinkel received a long sentence, not a mandatory life sentence, and the judge exercised discretion and considered Kinkel’s age.
