Michael Bourgeois was a teen in Pennsylvania when he would murder his adopted parents
According to court documents Michael Bourgeois along with Landon May, Steven Estes and Drenea Rodriguez conspired to kill the couple. Michael and Landon would go to the home, tie up the couple and tortured them for hours
The female victim was shot, stabbed, had a television set dropped on her head and was finally suffocated. The male victim was shot, stabbed and strangled to death.
Michael Bourgeois and Landon May would be arrested and charged with double murder and robbery
Michael Bourgeois was sentenced to two life sentences without parole that was later reduced to eighty years
Landon May was sentenced to death.
Michael Bourgeois Photos
Michael Bourgeois FAQ
Where is Michael Bourgeois now
Michael Bourgeois is currently incarcerated at Mahanoy Prison
When is Michael Bourgeois release date
Michael Bourgeois current release date is not until he turns 97 years old
Michael Bourgeois Appeal
A Lancaster County man who was 17 when he participated in the torture-murders of his adoptive mother and stepfather had his 80-year-to-life prison sentence upheld Friday by a state appeals court.
The Superior Court panel rejected Michael Lee Bourgeois’ claim that county Judge David Ashworth didn’t fully consider his “distinct youthful attributes” when he resentenced Bourgeois in October 2017.
Bourgeois initially was sentenced to life in prison for the September 2001 slayings of Terry and Lucy Smith in the family’s home. He pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. His co-defendant, Landon May, was convicted by a jury and receive two death sentences.
Bourgeois had to be resentenced because of a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that bans automatic life without parole sentences for juvenile killers.
In the state court opinion denying Bourgeois’ appeal, Judge Carolyn H. Nichols noted that prosecutors wanted Ashworth to resentence Bourgeois to 100 years-to-life behind bars. She rejected Bourgeois’ argument Ashworth imposed an illegal de facto life prison term.
Nichols cited Ashworth’s observation that each of the murders “was carried out in a dispassionate and calculated manner, each victim was tortured and mutilated, and each murder showed an exceptionally callous disregard for human suffering.”
A forensic pathologist concluded Terry Smith had been stabbed 47 times, his neck was slashed at least five times, he was shot five times and then was asphyxiated. Lucy Smith was cut 51 times, was shot in the head, was beaten with a hammer and was finally smothered, the pathologist concluded.
Terry Smith was the president of a local company. Lucy Smith was an elementary school principal.
Bourgeois turns 35 next week. In his failed appeal he complained that Ashworth’s sentence will prevent him from becoming eligible for parole until he’s 97. That, he said, is nearly 20 years past the average life expectancy for a man in Pennsylvania.
