The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled a man serving a life sentence for kidnapping is eligible for parole.
The case involves Julio Bonilla, who was 16 at the time he committed the crime. He was tried as an adult and convicted in 2005 of first-degree kidnapping in Polk County.
The charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. But, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision banned such sentences for juveniles convicted of crimes that did not include homicide saying such sentences amount to “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The Iowa Supreme Court has directed the Polk County Court to resentence Bonilla to life in prison with the possibility of parole.