LEE COUNTY, Fla. — A man sentenced to life in prison for a Lee County murder could get his punishment changed after a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Eddie Ferguson is scheduled to have a sentencing hearing where his lawyer will argue that Ferguson should not have to spend the rest of his life in prison because he was a minor when he committed the crime.
36 years ago, Ferguson shot and killed a woman named Yvonne Martini during a robbery. Ferguson was 16 years old at the time.
A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison in 1990, but in 2017 Ferguson filed an appeal to his sentence, citing a new SCOTUS ruling that says people younger than 18 should not be sentenced to life in prison.
A judge will hear witness testimony from the family of Marini and decide if Ferguson should get a new sentence.
The hearing will continue into Friday.
