A 56-year-old Arkansas prisoner who was sentenced to life at 15 is not entitled to a new sentence because the state Legislature has already made him eligible for parole, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

John Lohbauer, who was convicted of killing a police officer in 1977, had argued that his sentence was unconstitutional under a U.S. Supreme Court decision barring no-parole life sentences for those who commit crimes as minors.

In addition to his life sentence, Lohbauer had been sentenced to another 40 years.

However, lawmakers last year passed the Fair Sentencing of Minors Act, which made former teenage killers like Lohbauer eligible for parole, in response to the Supreme Court's decisions.

Lohbaurer, who was convicted of first-degree murder, is eligible for parole after 25 years under the law, and he has already served that amount of time.

Other prisoners serving life sentences for teenage crimes have continued to argue for re-sentencing hearings instead of parole, hoping for more leniency.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.