MO Supreme Court rules on case involving juvenile murderer

A Missouri prisoner, who was 16 when she killed a man during a meth transaction, will remain in prison for now, under a key ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court.

41-year-old Jessica Hicklin, was sentenced in April 1997 to mandatory life without parole and remains incarcerated. The incident happened in Clinton, Missouri, which is about 33 miles northwest of Eldorado Springs.

She began challenging her sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2012 that juveniles cannot be given mandatory sentences of life without parole.

The Missouri Supreme Court has rejected Hicklin’s claim that the Missouri statute giving her parole eligibility after 25 years is unconstitutional.