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State wants appeal of juvenile lifer ruling

LANSING, MI (AP)--   Michigan officials are asking a judge to call a time-out and allow an immediate appeal in a lawsuit over mandatory no-parole sentences for juveniles. 

The attorney general's office wants a higher court to review recent decisions by Ann Arbor federal Judge John Corbett O'Meara. He declared Michigan's mandatory no-parole law unconstitutional and wants lawyers to propose new parole procedures, in light of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court opinion last year.

In a court filing Thursday, state lawyers say O'Meara exceeded his authority. They say a review by the federal appeals court in Cincinnati is appropriate.

Attorney Deborah LaBelle says O'Meara's decision would apply to more than 350 prisoners serving mandatory no-parole sentences for murder. Attorney General Bill Schuette believes it's restricted to just five inmates in LaBelle's lawsuit.

Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.