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CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — A 35-year-old Clarksburg man who sexually assaulted and robbed an 83-year-old woman during a 2001 home invasion will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years, instead of 40.
Adam D. Bowers had been sentenced in 2015 to 15 to 35 years on each of the sex assault charges, to run consecutive with each other and with time he already had been serving. He also was sentenced to 1 to 15 years on a burglary charge, to run concurrently, and to 40 years on a robbery charge, to run consecutively.
That sentence would have meant Bowers wouldn’t be eligible for parole until Aug. 16, 2053, and wouldn’t have had a projected release date until Aug. 15, 2068.
But after a petition from attorney David Mirhoseini on behalf of Bowers, the West Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled Bowers must be sentenced again. The justices ordered Harrison County Chief Judge Thomas A. Bedell to apply West Virginia Code §61-11-23, “Punishment for Juvenile Convicted as an Adult.”
Bedell said he had forgotten to apply that part of state code at Bowers’ initial sentencing hearing, and no one had reminded him.
It’s a big difference for Bowers, at least when it comes to parole eligibility. That section of code is based on U.S. Supreme Court rulings that juveniles don’t have the same capacity for decision-making and maturity as adults, and must be eligible for parole after serving 15 years, no matter how many adult crimes for they’ve committed while underage.
That means Bowers, 16 at the time of his crime, now will have his first appearance before the parole board 25 years sooner than he would have, which will be sometime late this decade or early next.
Of course, there’s no guarantee Bowers ever will be paroled. In he isn’t, Bowers’ projected release date with maximum good-behavior credit will remain in August 2068.
During his trial, Bowers took the stand and denied any involvement in the crimes.
He first became a suspect more than a decade after the 2001 attack.
Previously, the Supreme Court overturned the convictions of another defendant in the case following additional DNA test results.
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