Mara, his wife, was critically injured, suffering more than 25 knife wounds inflicted by Jonathan Kurtz and James Preston. Since being sent to the prison in Ypsilanti, Tia Skinner said she has not heard from her mother, her siblings or anyone else from the close-knit Yale community. The court ruled mandatory life in prison without a chance for parole for young offenders is cruel and unusual punishment, and prisoners who were juveniles at the time of the crime can request to be re-sentenced.