BOISE -- The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence for a Boise teen convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing and beating death of his mother in 2007.
The justices ruled Wednesday in the case of Ethan Windom, who was 16 at the time he was arrested and charged in the slaying of Judy Windom.
Ethan Windom was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and his attorney appealed the life sentence without parole because it was excessive given his chances to rehabilitate.
Four of the court's five justices backed the state judge who determined the crime was so brutal and so heinous to merit life in prison.
But Justice Warren Jones disagreed. While Jones agreed severe punishment is appropriate, he wrote life without parole is unreasonable for a teen with a severe mental illness.
