The next resentencing hearing for an East Hartford man convicted of murdering an Avon resident when he was 17 will be on June 18.
Jamaal Coltherst – who turned 31 on Feb. 18 – was scheduled to appear at Hartford Superior Court on Feb. 21, but the case was continued.
He is eligible for resentencing because of a June United States Supreme Court ruling prohibiting judges from sentencing juveniles convicted of homicide to life in jail without parole.
Coltherst was 17 when he and Carl Johnson killed Kyle Holden, of Avon, in East Hartford back in 1999. Johnson was 18 at the time, according to the Hartford Courant.
In 2001, Coltherst was sentenced to life without the possibility of release and 71 consecutive years in prison, according to court records. He filed an appeal in April of that year, but was not successful.
Last July, Coltherst filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence, according to court records, because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
According to court records, Coltherst and Johnson waited armed outside of Kahoots Cafe & Grill in East Hartford for a victim on Oct. 16, 1999. After approaching Holden outside the club, they forced him into a Honda Accord, which the Hartford Courant reported was Holden's car. Driving to a nearby Webster Bank, Coltherst demanded Holden's ATM card and pin number and withdrew money from his account. He also took his wallet, watch and briefcase.
The chief medical examiner in Farmington did an autopsy of Holden's body on Oct. 26, 1999, according to court records. He ruled his death a homicide due to a gunshot wound to the head. The Connecticut State Police Forensics Laboratory found that the bullet that killed Holden came from a .22 caliber gun.
East Hartford police got an arrest warrant for Coltherst from Manchester Superior Court on Oct. 27, 1999.
In 2000, Coltherst was found guilty of murdering a victim of a kidnapping, murder, murder - commission of felony, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree robbery with a deadly weapon, first-degree larceny and first-degreee kidnapping, court records state.
