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Cedric Tooks released April 23 from Lakeland CF after resentencing May 16. 2025, after 47 years served for crime he has always said he did not commit
Tooks re-sentenced under MSC People of MI v. John Antonio Poole ruling (April 1, 2025), affecting 250 defendants who were 18 at time of crime
Defendants wh0 were 19 and 20 at time of crime to be re-sentenced under MSC People of MI v. Montario Marquise Taylor/Andrew Czarnecki (April 10, 2025)
Cedric Tooks’ supporters at resentencing hearing May 16, 2025: (l to r) Travis Herndon (VOD Legal Adviser), Wyman Jenkins, Hosea Fells-Bey, Eric Walston (Prisoners Doing the Right Thing), and Craig Willoughby (Returning Citizens),
By Diane Bukowski
June 11, 2025 DONATE TO VOD at:
https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-vod
DETROIT — Cedric Tooks walked out of Michigan’s Coldwater Correctional Facility May 23, a free man, after serving 47 years in Michigan prisons since 1978, when he was 18 years old. He heads a list of 830 state defendants who were 18, 19, and 20 years old at their sentencings to death in prison, who are finally being re-sentenced as a result of historic Michigan Supreme Court rulings in April which found such sentences unconstitutional. Tooks was re-sentenced May 16 to 40-6o years.
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Welch
“Mandatorily condemning such offenders to die in prison, without first considering the attributes of youth that late adolescents and juveniles share, no longer comports with the ‘evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society,’” wrote Justice Elizabeth Welch in the majority decision in People of MI v. Montario Marquise Taylor/Andrew Czarnecki (April 10, 2025), affecting those 19 and 20 years old at their convictions. She added that violates the cruel or unusual punishment clause of the Michigan Constitution.
Tooks was re-sentenced under People of MI v. John Antonio Poole (April 1, 2025), affecting those 18 years old at the time of the crime. Poole made a 2022 MSC ruling in People v. Parks retroactive to all such cases.
Charles Lewis age 17, in 1977, mother Rosie Lewis.
“I did 47 years for murder, a crime of which I have always said I was innocent,” Tooks told VOD. “I thank God, Judge Kelly Ramsey, and my attorney Sanford Schulman and his staff for believing in me and supporting me until this victory. I am grateful to all my supporters through the years, including Charles Lewis, Hosea Fells-Bey, and Wyman Jenkins, and especially my sister Joyce Easterly and her family.”
Many defendants in such cases, including juvenile lifer Charles Lewis, whose story received extensive VOD coverage, have had valid innocence claims but have been unable to win their freedom on those grounds, in a criminal justice system stacked against people of color and the poor. Several of Tooks’ friends at court supported his claim of innocence, from their own knowledge in the neighborhood where it happened.
Wayne 3rd Circuit Judge Kelly A. Ramsey.
Lewis, who spent 42 years in prison after his 1977 sentencing to death in prison at the age of 17 for the murder of an off-duty policeman, a crime he did not commit, attended all Tooks’ hearings on Zoom. Lewis was released in 2019, after 40 court hearings during which the prosecution adamantly fought to keep him in prison until death.
During the hearing May 16, Judge Kelly A. Ramsey told Tooks that she was re-sentencing him to concurrent terms on three records, involving a life without parole sentence, another involving life with parole, and a third involving breaking and entering charges.
Tooks had served far more than the minimum sentence and was released from custody at Lakeland Correctional Facility a week later, on May 23, 2025.
Cedric Tooks visits with great-grand and grand-nephews, both Victor Tooks.
“We are re-sentencing you pursuant to Miller vs. Alabama on 79002773-01,” Judge Ramsey said. “There is an agreement with the prosecution . . . that the people waive their right to request a hearing on a sentence of imprisonment without the possibility of parole under MCL 769.25, and as Mr. Schulman just said, People vs. Stovall which is the new case law.”
“. . .The People could have asked for what is called a Miller hearing and asked for my consideration of continuing your sentence life without parole. Miller vs. Alabama requires me to give you a minimum sentence on the murder one charge of no less than 25 years and no more than 40 years on the minimum, with a maximum of 60 years. You’ve already served a substantial period of time. There’s an agreement to re-sentence you on murder one file ending 2773 to 60 years and on the file ending in 2942, armed robbery with AWIM 40 years. These sentences will run concurrent with one another.”
Judge Ramsey noted for the record that Tooks’ acceptance of the settlement offer means that he gives up his right to a Miller hearing, any claim that the settlement offer is a result of promises or threats that were not disclosed on the record, and his right to appeal the sentence, except for newly discovered evidence or a change in the law that would retroactively apply to him or a violation of the settlement offer or Michigan statutes.
Cedric Tooks. others at church
Tooks was jubilant throughout the sentencing, but deferred to defense attorney Schulman for a formal statement.
Schulman noted, “[Mr. Tooks] first appeared for sentencing in this court 17,000 days ago when Jimmy Carter was president. He was a lost young man . . .who had no incentive to go to classes and improve himself, knowing that this was a life sentence, this is your world.
“But he did everything to improve himself. He was a model for the last 20 years. . .His reports are extremely favorable, and the fact that people are still here supporting him [is important]. . . this is a time for him to earn back the trust of the community. He’s given up 47 years of his life. He knows that whatever he can do to change a life, make a difference whatever he can do he will.”
Links to complete Michigan Supreme Court rulings on 18, 19, 20 y/olds:
http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/MSC-People-v-Poole-2025-166813-1.pdf
http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/MSC-People-v-Taylor-Czarnecki-166428_133_01-2025.pdf
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And more from the Voice of Detroit–put “juvenile life without parole” in Search box.
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