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Report: Mecklenburg Co. prosecutors send too many teens to prison for life

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Children convicted of murder and sent to prison for life are getting another chance at freedom, but victims’ families are fighting back.

There is a new report accusing Mecklenburg County of defying the Supreme Court.

The process has forced families to relive painful memories sometimes decades after the loss of their loved one.

The Supreme Court decision said teens shouldn’t be sentenced to life in prison, except in rare circumstances.

The new report claims local prosecutors are ignoring that order.

Color of Change prepared the report that said North Carolina, and Mecklenburg County in particular, have sent too many teenagers to prison for life without parole, and that's not justice.

Montrez Williams was one month shy of his 18th birthday when he shot and killed Joshua Davis and Terry Long in 2008.

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A jury found him guilty three years later, and he was sentenced to life without parole.

“What we've seen in Mecklenburg County is that it's the routine, said attorney Henderson Hill, with Color of Change. “It's the default position.”

Hill said the county is well behind other states around the country that don't put teens in prison without parole.

Groups like the Council for Children's Rights have been saying that for years.

“We believe that no child should be thrown away, and we believe that life without parole is effectively society throwing children away,” said Bob Simmons with the Council for Children’s Rights.

However, victims’ families have a different opinion.

“My kids were shot in the back of the head,” Andrea Long said.

Long said Williams was old enough to know what he was doing when he killed her sons, Davis and Long.

“So, you're telling me this man's sentence was too harsh?” Long said. “It's just laughable.”

The courts have ruled that Williams should have another sentencing hearing. District Attorney Spencer Merriweather said he plans to review other similar cases to make sure they're doing it right.

“I will sit down with members of my homicide team, and go through to make sure that we are considering the law as the court has instructed us to do,” Merriweather said.

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