BOSTON (AP) — A man convicted of raping and murdering a pregnant woman and drowning her two young children in a bathtub when he was 17 is asking the state's highest court for a shot at earlier parole.
Daniel LaPlante is serving three consecutive life sentences for the 1987 killings in Townsend, meaning he would not be eligible for parole until age 62.
LaPlante's lawyer, Merritt Schnipper, argued before the Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday that his client's sentence conflicts with previous court rulings which say defendants convicted of murder as juveniles should be given a "meaningful" opportunity to re-engage with society.
Schnipper asked that LaPlante be resentenced to make him eligible for parole within the next few years.
Prosecutors argue the current sentence is appropriate given the brutality of the crimes.
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WBZ NewsRadio's Mike Macklin reports