ATLANTA — Georgia's Supreme Court ruled a convicted murderer was too young to be sentenced to life without parole.



Robert Veal is in his early 20s. Police say when he was 17 1/2, Veal and two other "Jack Boys" gang members terrorized Atlanta.



In the fall of 2010, they robbed people, raped a woman in Grant Park and shot and killed Charles Boyer in Virginia Highland.



A jury convicted them in 2012.



A Fulton County Superior Court judge gave Veal life without parole for Boyer's murder, and six other life sentences for the other crimes.



On Monday, Georgia Supreme Court justices up held his murder conviction and tossed the sentence.



"This decision will last forever," said attorney Jackie Patterson.



Patterson has never worked on the case, but has followed it closely.



Patterson told Channel 2 investigative reporter Erica Byfield the Georgia Supreme Court ruling backs up what the United States Supreme Court said earlier this year.



"It's huge, and that's why I think you are going to have more underage defendants sentenced to life with parole versus life without parole," Patterson said.



Juveniles can be sentenced to life without parole, but only the worst of the worst.



A release from the Georgia Supreme Court citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling reads, "Life without parole is permitted only in 'exceptional circumstances,' for the 'rare juvenile offender who exhibits such irretrievable depravity that rehabilitation is impossible.'"



Georgia's justices said the Fulton County Superior Court judge who sentenced Veal did not make that distinction.



They ultimately upheld the murder conviction and determined Veal must be re-sentenced for that crime.



Patterson thinks this decision will have a big impact.



"There are probably hundreds of people in Georgia and across the United States that got sentenced to life without parole before they turned 18," Patterson said.