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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina appeals court says a life prison sentence for a man who was a teenager when he participated in a murderous stickup is constitutional because he now has a chance to earn parole.
The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled Sethy Tony Seam's new sentence for felony murder when he was 16 years old falls in line with U.S. constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishments.
Seam was re-sentenced after a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision prohibiting mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles.
Seam participated in an armed robbery in Lexington in 1997 when an accomplice shot and killed a convenience store owner.
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