LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – On Monday, the 30th circuit court in Lansing heard from victims and inmates as they tried to determine new sentences for three murderers.
It came after a Michigan Supreme Court decision that banned automatic life sentences for minors who have committed murder.
As a result, former Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon laid out new guidelines before she retired that forced the court to reexamine past cases and hand out new sentences.
“Carol destroyed my life,” said Crystal Grigonis, who in 2001 was in her home when her sister’s ex-boyfriend Terrance Taylor broke in and attacked them. Her brother was killed when he tried to defend them.
The ex then turned his rage on the two sisters stabbing the pair dozens of times each.
At one point, she was told the man who did it would be behind bars for the rest of his life. but now she says she had less than a month to prepare to be back in court
“How do you prepare how do you prepare for something like. To know you have to relive all this again?” she said.
Grigonis is a member of Voices of Murder Victims, an organization that was formed in opposition to the former prosecutor Carol Siemen.
The group was there to support the victims in court. The group says the people killed didn’t have another chance so, why should the murderers?
The judge called this case one of the worst he’s seen, But because of the previous prosecutor’s actions, he reduced the sentence from life to 35- 60 years.
Grigonis says the fact that her brother’s killer will now be eligible for parole makes her fear for her life
“The knowledge he has another chance to kill again really sucks. I mean I have a family I have children and grandchildren that I want to raise and I want to be there for,” she said.
With the new lighter sentence, Taylor will be eligible for parole 35 years from the date of the crime, which means he could be out by 2036.
