Murderer who served 44 years in prison killed by coronavirus days before release
He had reportedly turned down the chance at parole earlier this year because he wanted to finish his sentence and leave prison a 'completely free man,'
A convicted murderer who served 44 years in prison was killed by Covid-19 just days before his release.
William Garrison, 60, died unexpectedly shortly after his cellmate found him struggling to breathe at the Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox Township, Michigan on April 13, according to a prison spokesperson.
He was given CPR and was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A post-mortem examination revealed that he was positive for the new strain of coronavirus when he died.
Garrison was just 24 days away from his release when he passed away.
He had reportedly turned down the chance at parole earlier this year because he wanted to finish his sentence and leave prison a ‘completely free man,’ although he was given another chance at freedom on May 13 as prison officials worked to reduce population because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to The Detroit Free Press.
Garrison was sentenced to life in prison without parole after he was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting a 50-year-old man to death during a robbery gone wrong when he was 16 in 1976.
His life sentence was thrown into question after the Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that their previous decision to strike down mandatory life sentences for juveniles should be applied retroactively.
A judge re-sentenced Garrison to a new term of 40 to 90 years in January after he had served 43 years. The parole board then approved his release, but Garrison said he would rather finish his sentence than be subjected to the department’s supervision and restrictions.
He would have been eligible to be discharged from prison without parole in September, Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz said.
Garrison is among 17 prisoners who have died from Covid-19 in Michigan. There have so far been over 32,000 cases in the state and at least 2,698 have reportedly died from the virus in Michigan.