GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A man convicted of two brutal execution-type murders wants his life sentences immediately reduced after a Michigan Supreme Court decision ruled the initial punishment was disproportionate.

At 78 years old, Charles Ronald Martin is the oldest defendant in Kent County who is eligible for resentencing under the ruling.

Martin was 20 years old in 1968 when he shot and killed two gas station attendants in Walker. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.

The Michigan Supreme Court, however, ruled earlier this year that 19- and 20-year-olds who commit first-degree murder cannot automatically be sentenced to life in prison.

The decision applies retroactively, the court stated, meaning defendants sentenced for crimes comm

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