A man convicted in the 2009 thrill killing of his South Bay classmate is now free.
Then-teenagers Jae Williams and Randy Thompson lured Michael Russell to a home and stabbed him to death. Williams was 15 at the time, and Thompson was 16. Both were tried as adults and convicted.
The murder was dubbed a thrill killing because Williams and Thompson said they took Russell's life because they wanted to see what it felt like to kill someone.
But in 2018, state lawmakers passed a law prohibiting anyone under 16 from being tried as adults.
Williams went back to juvenile court to revisit his case. On Monday, a judge set him free nine years into his 26-year sentence.
"The state legislature essentially tied the hands of prosecutors and said you can no longer charge a 14 or a 15 year old as an adult, regardless of the nature of the crime," legal analyst Steven Clark said.
Local
Williams' lawyer, Lewis Romero, who repeatedly sparred with prosecutors and the judge, said, "Finally, the courts have done what is just. We should stop caging children and punishing them – not only in California, the United States, across the world. We are more interested in cage-free chickens, cage-free animals. We should be more focused on cage-free children."
Thompson, who is only a few months older than Williams, remains in prison.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
As Williams settles in at home, Russell's family members said they're left with nothing but pain.
"He would have been a great contributor to society and unfortunately he’s not the one that gets to live here in it because Jae killed him," said Cathy Russell, Michael's aunt. "[Jae] gets to live here now. He gets to be out and be a member of our community. It's so not deserving."