CLEARFIELD — Andrew Callahan, now 40, was resentenced on Tuesday afternoon to 30 years to life in prison by Senior Judge Richard A. Masson.
In 1997, the then 17-year-old Callahan was charged with the murder of his Glendale High School classmate, Micah Pollock, age 15, in Beccaria Township, Clearfield County.
Callahan has had three trials in regards to these charges (in 1998, 2007 and 2010), and all resulted in him being convicted of first-degree murder.
Additionally, all three resulted in the court imposing a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
However, in 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that juveniles convicted of first-degree murder can only be given life without parole in cases when, “the juvenile offender is permanently incorrigible and thus is unable to be rehabilitated.”
This decision led Callahan’s attorney, Andrew Shubin, to file this motion for resentencing.
The commonwealth argued, among other things, which based on their expert’s assessment, Callahan has never taken responsibility for his actions and therefore cannot start the rehabilitation process without first taking that step.
“I am disappointed in the decision by the court today to provide the defendant with an avenue to be released from jail,” said Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers.
“The reason life without parole exists is to protect the community from persons that commit heinous murders, like Callahan did in 1997, and as punishment for taking another person’s life. I feel for the family of Micah Pollock because justice was not served in this resentencing.”
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