OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office is asking a judge to allow additional review and consider upholding life without parole sentences for 16 people convicted of crimes committed before they turned 21.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald filed motions seeking more information in those cases, citing challenges created by recent Michigan Supreme Court rulings that changed how such sentences must be evaluated, according to a release from the prosecutor’s office.
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“The Supreme Court’s expedited timeline for reviewing these cases created challenges for everyone involved, especially for victims who were assured these cases had been settled many years ago,” said McDonald. “We believe our recommendations accurately reflect our best understanding of each case. However, the order to review dozens of closed cases, some decades old, created a challenging process to ensure victims received justice.”
The motions stem from April 2025 Michigan Supreme Court rulings, which found that mandatory life without parole sentences are unconstitutional for defendants who were 20 years old or younger at the time of their crimes.
In response, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office reviewed 95 cases involving defendants sentenced to life for crimes committed between the ages of 18 and 20.
Under Michigan law, prosecutors must overcome a rebuttable presumption that life without parole is unconstitutional in these cases.
“Michigan law requires the prosecution to overcome a rebuttable presumption that life without parole is unconstitutional, but provides almost no means for the prosecution to obtain relevant information prior to filing a motion seeking life without parole (LWOP),” according to prosecution motions filed in Oakland County Circuit Court. “After a motion is filed, the prosecution can potentially obtain such information…The prosecution files this motion for that purpose – to obtain additional relevant information.”
One of the cases prosecutors are seeking to uphold involves Aaron Stinchcombe, who was 20 years old when he and a co-defendant raped and killed Cassandra Fiolek and Jennifer Wicks, both 12, in 1995.
The prosecutor’s office said Stinchcombe has been convicted of multiple offenses as a minor and an adult.
He has been cited for 37 misconduct violations, including fighting and alcohol use, during his incarceration. Stinchcombe also tried to incite a prison riot in 2022, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“The brutal murders of Cassandra Fiolek and Jennifer Wicks are every parent’s worst nightmare,” McDonald said. “The violence was shocking and depraved. Aaron Stinchcombe was a habitual offender when he committed this heinous crime and his record while incarcerated suggests nothing has changed. It feels like common sense that Stinchcombe never should be released from prison.”
After completing its review, the prosecutor’s office determined that 79 people sentenced to life for crimes committed between the ages of 18 and 20 will need to be resentenced under the recent Supreme Court rulings.
“The Supreme Court created a very high burden to maintain these life sentences,” McDonald said. “Life without parole is reserved for only the worst crimes and is never given lightly. There are certainly a handful of these cases where resentencing seems appropriate. Unfortunately, with too many of these cases, we risk retraumatizing victims by allowing their loved one’s killer a chance at freedom because the burden placed on prosecutors and lower court judges is too high to keep them locked up.”
The legal changes stem from a 2022 Michigan Supreme Court ruling in People v. Parks, which found mandatory life without parole sentences for 18-year-olds unconstitutional. That decision was expanded in 2025 to include 19- and 20-year-olds in People v. Taylor and People v. Czarnecki.