The Pennsylvania Superior Court late Wednesday denied a request by a juvenile lifer from Allegheny County to be released on bond pending appeal.
Ricky Lee Olds, who was 14 when he was accused of participating in the robbery and shooting of a postal worker on the North Side in 1979, was resentenced last week under U.S. Supreme Court precedent that said that juvenile offenders cannot be given a prison term of mandatory life without parole. That’s what Olds received in 1980 for second-degree murder.
In his time in prison, his attorneys said, he’s been a model prisoner.
Last week, Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman resentenced Olds to serve 20 years to life in prison, making him immediately eligible for parole.
His attorneys, hoping to facilitate a quick release, requested Olds be granted bond pending appeal, which Judge Cashman granted at first.
However, the district attorney’s office objected, saying that a defendant sentenced to a life sentence is not eligible for that type of bond.
Judge Cashman vacated his order the next day, and the defense filed an appeal with the Superior Court.
The appellate court did not give an explanation of its denial.
Their order means that Olds will have to await the parole process, which likely will take about three months.
First Published: December 1, 2016, 12:54 a.m.
