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Jan. 26, 2016 By Tony Rizzo KC STAR

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday should clear the way for a new sentencing hearing for the youngest man convicted in one of Kansas City’s most infamous crimes.

Bryan E. Sheppard was 17 in 1988 when an arson fire triggered a massive explosion that killed six firefighters at a south-central Kansas City construction site.

Sheppard was one of five defendants convicted in the case and sentenced to life in prison.

Sheppard, now 44, previously had been granted a new sentencing hearing after a 2012 Supreme Court decision found that it was unconstitutional to impose mandatory prison sentences of life without parole on juveniles.

The rulings did not outlaw such sentences outright but required hearings to consider if such a sentence is appropriate in each case.

But Sheppard’s resentencing was put on hold pending a ruling on the case decided Monday.

Bryan Sheppard's life sentence ruled unconstitutional

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —A U.S. Supreme Court ruling could end the life prison sentence for one of the people convicted in the 1988 fire that killed six Kansas City firefighters.

Bryan Sheppard, who was one of five people convicted of starting a fire at a construction site near 87th Street and U.S. Highway 71 more than 27 years ago, was 17 at the time. The fire triggered a massive explosion that killed six firefighters who came to the scene to put it out.

The court ruled Monday that it’s unconstitutional to sentence someone under the age of 18 to life without parole.

“He was a troublemaker. Got into all kinds of trouble. Dropped out of school. Got into fights. Been to jail once before,” said Andrew Johnson, who befriended Sheppard and now works for his release.

The convictions of Sheppard and the four others is controversial.

Johnson said the deaths of the six firefighters were awful.

“I think it’s equally awful that these five people who do not have any physical evidence against them (and who) have alibis, witnesses that support the alibis, end up being convicted of this crime,” Johnson said.

Jan. 26, 2016 KSHB 41 News

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday affirmed that more than 80 Missouri inmates sentenced to life in prison as teenagers have a chance at freedom.

The high court extended its 2012 ruling banning mandatory life without parole sentences for juvenile murderers, saying it applies to those previously convicted. That could mean a resentencing or a chance at parole for the 81 Missouri inmates the Department of Corrections says were sentenced as minors to spend their lives in prison for first-degree murder.

Missouri courts had already granted resentencing hearings for some inmates with appeals pending at the time of the 2012 ruling, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. But the state Supreme Court had not yet ruled on a prior case that had exhausted the appeals process.