Karen Rena Howell is currently serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in Tennessee. At the time of her sentencing, Karen was a child who was forced to accept a plea deal of life without the possibility of parole to save her four adult co-defendants from facing the death penalty. This is a profound injustice; Karen, a child, sacrificed her own best legal interest to protect adults from execution. It's time we help right this wrong.
The United States is the only country in the world that permits youths to be sentenced to life without parole. In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles convicted of murder cannot be subject to a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. According to neuropsychologist Dr. Pamela Auble, Karen was suffering from major depression, severe, with psychotic symptoms at the time of her sentencing. She was suicidal and experiencing hallucinations.
Karen did not kill or intend to kill anyone; ballistic reports show she had no gun residue on her. Karen has endured more than 24 years of incarceration for ultimately being a scared child who was unable to aid in the planning of the crimes or intervene and stop the killings. Karen is a kind, caring, compassionate human being who deserves a chance to prove she is no longer the person she was when she entered prison as a teenager. She has completed all available programmes, including obtaining her GED, growing into a mature woman.
Justice for Carly Gregg
I worked with troubled teens as a Mental Health Assistant at various psychiatric hospitals and behavioral healthcare centers throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Back in 2005, while on a lunch break from one of those jobs, I turned on the TV and stumbled across the “Kentucky Gothic” episode of A&E’s City Confidential true crime series. It covered what the media referred to as the “Lillelid Murders.”
