For the first time sex offenders may get life sentences
For the first time in modern Minnesota history, two men accused of sex crimes could end up sentenced to prison until they die.
Prosecutors in Dakota and Ramsey counties are preparing to use a 2005 law that can apply life, with no chance of parole, to the most violent and extreme sex offenders.
Minnesota has never before allowed such a sentence for a sex offender who didn't kill a victim. The law does allow life without parole for sex crimes featuring "heinous elements" such as torture, mutilation, multiple victims or extreme inhumane conditions.
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