Man Sentenced To Life In Prison As Juvenile Released After 40 Years
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A Pittsburgh man who was sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile was released after 40 years on Saturday.
In January, the Supreme Court ruled that people who were sentenced to life in prison when they were juveniles must have a chance to be re-sentenced or offered parole hearings.
His prison clothes gone, Jeffrey Cristina no longer has to look at the world from a prison cell.
"Just seeing my family, everybody here, this is a special day," he said.
Cristina was released from the state correctional facility in Somerset after spending nearly 41 years behind bars. In 1976 he was convicted of second degree murder for the robbery and beating of a Lawrenceville man. He confessed in the robbery but said he left before the murder.
Cristina, a juvenile at the time, was convicted and sentenced to life with no parole. A few years ago he was given hope when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his sentence was unconstitutional. Hopes were dashed when the State Supreme Court ruled that the decision was not retroactive and only applied to people sentenced after 2012.
"The U.S. Supreme Court again came back and said those decisions were retroactive and that Cristina would be re-sentenced from his original sentence from 1976 where he would be given an opportunity to be freed on parole," explained Cristina's attorney Steve Townsend.
For the first time in decades, Cristina is spending time with his family away from the prison.
"Nothing would change unless the law changed so I'm very grateful that the law changed so that he could come home," said niece Heather Taylor.
"To have him back home is incredible, we got a lot of catching up to do and we're going to take it one step at a time," brother Tony Cristina said.
Cristina said he was a model inmate in prison with no infractions, now he's adjusting to a world that has changed a lot since 1976.
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