A Davenport woman convicted of a murder when she was 17 years old has a shot at freedom, nearly 30 years after being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Christine Lockheart, now 46, was re-sentenced by a Scott County judge on Thursday, February 27, 2014 to life in prison, with the chance for parole.
Lockheart's case is one of 38 in Iowa involving offenders who were juveniles at the time of their crime. The sentences all challenged after a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled a life sentence without parole for a juvenile is cruel and unusual punishment.
Lockheart was convicted of murder, along with her boyfriend in 1987 in the death of a retired Davenport city bus driver named Floyd Brown.
He was bound and stabbed to death in a robbery. Lockheart has always contended she didn't take part in the killing.
Lockheart tearfully turned to Brown's family during Thursday's re-sentencing hearing and apologized.
"I made a terrible wrong decision. It victimized your family, every one of you. I'm terribly sorry. I know that it changed your lives forever and it changed mine too, I'm sorry," Lockheart said.
Brown's family says she needs to stay in prison.
Her attorney says she will now be eligible to ask for parole on an annual basis.