NILES — Robert Leamon III, 43, a convicted murderer from Niles, will receive a lighter sentence than his current life without parole.

Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman issued an opinion and order for the resentencing Monday. The resentencing will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30 at the Cass County Law and Courts Building, 60296 M-62, Cassopolis.

The opinion and order resulted from a July 30 and 31, 2019, rehearing for Leamon. That hearing stemmed from two Supreme Court rulings granting inmates serving juvenile life sentencings to be considered for resentencing.

Leamon was 16 when he killed Rebecca “Becky” Stowe, 15, at a relative’s home in 1993, then buried her and denied the premeditated murder for years after.

A friend of Becky Stowe, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of Leamon, wrote in a statement to Leader Publications that a life in prison without parole is the only appropriate sentence for Leamon. She said they hope Leamon’s new sentence will be without parole and be so high that he will likely die in prison.

The friend, writing on behalf of the administrators of a Becky Stowe memorial Facebook page, understood the importance of reviewing criminal cases that carry a sentence of life without parole, but Herman’s resentencing decision “flies in the face of justice for the victim.”

“We will continue to do everything that is within our power to see justice served for Rebecca Lynn Stowe and to keep her memory alive, especially when it seems that she has been forgotten by people who can make a difference,” she wrote.

Leamon could be sentenced to a minimum 25 years in prison. Leamon was sentenced Feb. 14, 2000.

Over the past two decades, Leamon has taken part in several prison programs. During Leamon’s resentencing hearing, defending attorneys Sofia Nelson and Tina Olson argued these programs were proof that Leamon was a new man.

Leamon took a prisoner-college student class on social justice, a program that acclimated former greyhound racers and mediation training.

He also has two jobs, one as a suicide watch list monitor and another as a prisoner discussion facilitator.

Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz argued Leamon took these jobs and programs because he knew doing so could help in his potential resentencing. Fitz also said that Leamon contributed to a book that shed his story in a brighter light.

In his opinion, Herman wrote that Leamon began engaging in programming and jobs well before he would have known about the Supreme Court sentencings that would eventually grant him a resentencing.

Herman wrote he took all witness statements into consideration, from testimony from Stowe’s family and friends, to a friend of Leamon’s from prison, to psychologists.

“The court cannot ignore the horrendous nature of the underlying crime for which the defendant was convicted and sentenced,” he wrote, “nor ignore the lifelong impact it had, not only in ending the life of a wonderful young woman with a lifetime of dreams, hopes and accomplishments left unrealized, but also the continuing and lasting impact on the victim’s family and friends.”

However, Herman also wrote that the court cannot ignore its oath office and ignore an analysis set out by Supreme Court decisions.