Killer sentenced at 14 released from Washington jail

MONROE, Wash. – A man who was 14 years old when he was sentenced to life without parole for a 1987 murder has been released from a Washington state prison.

Northwest News Network reports that now 42-year-old Barry Massey walked out of Monroe Corrections Center on Tuesday. He is the first person to benefit from a 2014 state law that presumes juveniles sentenced to life in prison should be released after 25 years behind bars.

His lawyer, Maureen Devlin, described Massey as “appropriately excited and happy.” He was met at the gates by his wife, a former corrections officer whom he met and married while incarcerated.

Massey was 13 when he and an older boy, Michael Harris, shot and stabbed Steilacoom marina owner Paul Wang. They were sentenced to life without parole, but the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 outlawed mandatory life sentences for juveniles. Harris is scheduled to be released in August.