Court of Appeals Tosses 1984 Murder Sentence, Orders New Judge to Resentence
Over a dissent, a panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals has reversed a 2020 decision by Midland County Circuit Court Judge Stephen P. Carras which upheld a 1984 murder sentence of life without parole for Brian Granger.
Mr. Granger was convicted of first-degree felony murder, a crime which occurred when he was 17. The appeals court has ordered that Mr. Granger be resentenced by a different judge.
The resentencing stemmed from two major U.S. Supreme Court cases. Miller v. Alabama, in which the court ruled that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders; and Montgomery v. Louisiana, in which the court ruled that Miller should be applied retroactively.
Mr. Carras issued a 39-page opinion after a three-day hearing in 2020, upholding Mr. Granger’s original sentence.
Mr. Granger was convicted of killing Sandra Nestle, a 32-year-old mother of three, while she was jogging near Shepherd Road in Jasper Township in the summer of 1983. The evidence presented at trial indicated that Mr. Granger sexually assaulted her and then left her laying face-down in a drainage ditch. The victim’s cause of death was drowning.
Mr. Granger was originally sentenced by Midland County Circuit Court Judge Tyrone Gillespie.
“Granger’s childhood environment was exceptionally turbulent, contributing to his transient immaturity and other hallmark features of youth. Granger has also shown significant rehabilitation throughout his nearly 40 years in prison that counsel against a life-without-parole sentence,” the Court of Appeals wrote in its per curium opinion reversing Mr. Carras’ ruling.
The opinion also ordered that a new judge resentence Mr. Granger.
“The resentencing judge also made a number of clearly erroneous findings that infected his overall proportionality analysis, and which we are concerned would bias the judge’s resentencing discretion on remand. Preserving the appearance of justice, therefore, supplies an additional reason for Granger to be resentenced on remand before a new judge,” the opinion reads.
Judge David H. Sawyer disagreed.
“The trial court well-articulated the basis for the sentence in this heinous crime,” he wrote in his dissent. “I am not persuaded that the trial court’s decision falls outside the range of principled outcomes, and the majority is merely substituting its judgment for that of the trial court. I therefore would affirm the judge’s well-reasoned opinion to resentence defendant to life without parole.”
Michael Westendorf is the chairman and executive editor of Chemical City Paper. As Executive Editor, he leads the City Paper’s news coverage and editorial team.