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Decades After Her Brother Was Sentenced To Life, Anita Colon Is Still Fighting

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Anita Colon looks at photos of her brother Robert and other family members when he was younger. (Sam Fields/Here & Now)
Anita Colon looks at photos of her brother Robert and other family members when he was younger. (Sam Fields/Here & Now)

Philadelphia is home to the most juvenile lifers in the country, some 300 people sentenced as kids to life in prison without the possibility of parole. For years, that was a mandatory sentence in Pennsylvania for juveniles convicted of murder or felony murder.

But in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled, in Miller v. Alabama, that that was unconstitutional. And in 2016, in Montgomery v. Louisiana, the Court ruled that the Miller decision was retroactive. Now, hundreds of juvenile lifers are eligible for re-sentencing.

Here & Now's Robin Young revisits a conversation with Anita Colon, whose brother, Robert Holbrook, was sentenced to life 26 years ago for a crime he committed on his 16th birthday.

This segment aired on January 9, 2017.

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