Mike was extremely pleased and proud to have successfully reversed the 60-year sentence imposed on 14-year-old Keith Belcher in 1997. In 2022, the Connecticut Supreme Court officially rejected the theory of teenage “super-predator,” holding that it was unconstitutional for the judge to rely on that false, fake and racist theory when sentencing Mr. Belcher.
The overt rejection of historically based racist thinking is a notable moment in Connecticut judicial history. Mike then represented Mr. Belcher at his resentencing, where a superior court judge released Mr. Belcher decades earlier than his original sentence. Mike received the Connecticut Law Tribune’s “Giant Slayer” award for his work on the Belcher appeal.