St. Louis Judge Regrets Teen's 241-Year Sentence

ST. LOUIS, MO — A former St. Louis judge who sentenced a teenager to more than a lifetime in prison for a 1995 robbery is today saying her decision was unjust. "I sentenced a teen to die in prison," she wrote in an editorial in the Washington Post Tuesday. "I regret it."

Bobby Bostic was just 16 years old when he participated in the armed robbery of of a group of people delivering donated Christmas presents to needy families in downtown St. Louis. Two of the victims were shot and another briefly abducted and sexually assaulted. Bostic was one of two people charged with 18 felonies related to the incident, including robbery, assault, sexual abuse and kidnapping. Because of a previous, unrelated drug crime, he was charged as an adult.

"You will die in the Department of Corrections," Judge Evelyn Baker told Bostic in court in 1997, as she sentenced him to more than 24 decades in prison. Bostic's accomplice took a plea deal and got a fraction of that.

"I thought I was faulting Bostic for his crimes," Baker wrote after having decades herself to reevaluate her decision. "Looking back, I see that I was punishing him both for what he did and for his immaturity."

Baker explained how the latest science on brain development changed her mind on the harshness of the sentence she handed down. "What I learned too late is that young people’s brains are not static; they are in the process of maturing," she wrote. "Kids his age are unable to assess risks and consequences like an adult would. Overwhelming scientific research shows that children lack maturity and a sense of responsibility compared with adults because they are still growing. But for the same reason, they also have greater capacity for reform."

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled that sentencing juveniles to life sentences meets the definition of cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the Constitution. Now Baker believes the high court should take another look at Bostic's case in light of that ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Supreme Court to review Bostic's case in December and Baker has requested the group add her name to an official letter to the court signed by 26 former judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers. Missouri officials are expected to file a response sometime in the next month.

For now, Bostic is still serving out his original sentence. He has 220 years to go.

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