Court: Long sentence for Black man who killed at 17 stands

By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington Supreme Court has declined to reconsider an opinion that upheld a Black man’s virtual life sentence for shootings he committed at age 17 despite criticism that the ruling betrayed racial bias. The court denied the motion Monday. In September the court had upheld the 61-year sentence for Tonelli Anderson. It abandoned a precedent it set in the case of a white defendant that such long terms for juvenile killers were unconstitutional. Anderson killed a woman and blinded another during a robbery in 1994. He was not immediately arrested and went on to commit other crimes. He was charged in 1998.