Killer has a new chance at freedom after shooting Felicia Reese in 1994

Kevin Boot, who was convicted in 1994 for killing 22-year-old Felicia Reese when he was 17, will get a new chance at freedom.

Boot was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole in 1996 after a jury convicted him of aggravated murder. His cousin, Jerry Boot, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 1997 and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Each accused the other of killing Reese after they kidnapped her from a downtown hotel parking lot where she was attending a Christian conference, but police said Kevin Boot pulled the trigger.

The sentence Kevin Boot received was mandatory, but in 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws that require mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional.

A re-sentencing hearing was scheduled for Thursday morning but was postponed after an emergency hearing Tuesday afternoon, said Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Jack Driscoll. The judge in the case, Raymond Clary, wants to allow time for expert testimony to be arranged, Driscoll said. A new hearing date has not yet been set.

Boot, who is now 40, has been in the Spokane County Jail since March 22.