Ethan Windom was a sixteen year old teen killer from Idaho who would murder his mother Judy Windom
According to court documents Ethan Windom would attack his mother Judy Windom with a club made from attaching weights to a dumbbell before stabbing her repeatedly with such force that her brain would be exposed.
Ethan Windom would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. However since Ethan was sixteen at the time of the murder he was eligible for resentencing and he would then be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 26 years
Ethan Windom Now
Ethan Allen Windom
IDOC #: 87595
Status: In custody
Age: 33
| Offense | Sentencing County | Case No. | Sentence Satisfaction Date ** |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murder II | Ada | H0700274 | Life |
| Parole Eligibility Date | 01/25/2033 | ||
Ethan Windom Videos
Ethan Windom Case
A Boise man who was sentenced to life in prison for brutally killing his mother when he was 16 years old has been resentenced for his crime.
Ethan Windom argued that his youth and immaturity were not considered in light of rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court after he was sentenced to life without parole for the murder of 42-year-old Judy Windom.
Prosecutors say Windom clubbed his mother to death and then repeatedly stabbed her at her Boise home on Jan. 24, 2007. He was charged as adult with first-degree murder, but later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was ordered to serve life in prison with no possibility of parole.
The Idaho Supreme Court reversed that decision and ordered Windom to be resentenced, and the state appealed the order to the U.S. Supreme Court. The application was denied on Feb. 20, 2018.
A series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings called into question whether fixed life sentences are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual when imposed on juveniles, who are under the age of 18 when they commit the offense.
The case was sent back to Idaho’s Fourth District Court. On Wednesday, Judge Michael Reardon sentenced Windom to 26 years to life in prison. Windom has already spent 12 years behind bars.
Ethan Windom News
Ethan Windom, of Boise, will be re-sentenced for the brutal murder of his mother at her Boise home in 2007. Windom, 16, repeatedly struck his mother’s head with a club that he had fashioned by attaching weights to one end of a dumbbell. After his arms tired from the weight, he then stabbed her dead body repeatedly in the throat, chest, and abdomen and finally thrust a knife into her exposed brain. Windom pled guilty to murder in the second degree and the district court sentenced him to life without the chance of parole.
Windom filed a petition for post-conviction relief in state court claiming the sentencing court didn’t consider his youth and immaturity in 2007 as required by a new U.S. Supreme Court case. The district court dismissed his petition as untimely. In July 2017, the Idaho Supreme Court reversed the district court and ordered Windom to be re-sentenced. The State appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The application was denied on February 20, 2018.
A sentencing hearing for Windom will be scheduled by the court in accordance with the opinion. A status conference has been scheduled for April 13, 2018, at 2:00 p.m.
Ethan Windom More News
On January 24, 2007, sixteen-year-old Ethan Windom brutally murdered his mother by repeatedly striking her head with a club that he had fashioned by attaching weights to one end of a dumbbell. After his arms tired from the weight, he then stabbed her dead body repeatedly in the throat, chest, and abdomen and finally thrust a knife into her exposed brain. He pled guilty to murder in the second degree, and the district court sentenced him to a determinate life sentence. This Court affirmed that sentence on appeal. State v. Windom, 150 Idaho 873, 253 P.3d 310 (2011).
On June 25, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), which addressed whether state laws that required a mandatory fixed life sentence for juveniles convicted of murder violated the Eighth Amendment. The Court held that they did, but it also stated that
a sentencer misses too much if he treats every child as an adult. To recap: Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features—among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences. It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him—and from which he cannot usually extricate himself—no matter how brutal or dysfunctional. It neglects the circumstances of the homicide offense, including the extent of his participation in the conduct and the way familial and peer pressures may have affected him. ․ And finally, this mandatory punishment disregards the possibility of rehabilitation even when the circumstances most suggest it.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/id-supreme-court/1867376.html
