A Detroit man who has served 42 years behind bars for the murder of an off-duty police officer was relieved from his life sentence Thursday by a Wayne County judge.
“I do not find that Mr. Charles Lewis should be sentenced to life in prison,” said Judge Qiana Lillard of Wayne County Circuit Court, saying she believes the 1976 shooting of off-duty Detroit police officer Gerald Sypitkowski was a “spur of the moment … robbery that went bad.”
The judge later told Lewis, “It’s clear to me you can be rehabilitated.”
Lewis sat emotionless as the judge read her decision to resentence him to 37-60 years, making him immediately eligible for release.
