Teen who murdered parents denied chance at parole, life sentences stand

A teen killer given life for murdering his parents has been denied an opportunity for future parole.
Dalton Fletcher was 15 when he killed his parents in 2010. In February 2012 he was sentenced to two life terms with no chance of probation, parole or suspension of sentences.
Judge Daniel Ellender upheld his sentence after a  re-sentencing hearing.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2012 that mandatory life for underage killers amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
In April of this year, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal threw out Fletcher’s sentence.
The Supreme Court ruling left open the possibility that individual judges could sentence juveniles to life without parole in individual cases of murder but said state and federal laws cannot automatically impose such a sentence.
This summer the state introduced a letter written by Fletcher for jail to his girlfriend in which he described the murders and said he regretted not causing his victims more suffering.
In July, the prosecution filed into evidence a jailhouse letter Fletcher had written to his girlfriend in which he vividly describes how he shot and killed his parents and regretted that he did not cause them greater suffering.
He shot them with a shotgun and went to high school classes the next day with the gun in the trunk of his vehicle.
He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.