A Jacksonville mother said her fight for her son's freedom has been met with a mountain of 'no's.'
A landmark 'yes' for Mary Graham's son Terrance Graham in 2010 when the U.S. Supreme Court held life sentences without parole for juveniles were considered cruel and unusual in non-homicide cases.
"To hear that my sixteen-year-old child would spend the rest of his life and die in a prison," Mary said. "It was literally like someone reached in my chest and while they were snatching my heart they twisted it."
In 2003 and 2004, Terrance was found guilty on charges of burglary and armed robbery. After an initial sentence of one year for burglary, court documents show the 17-year-old violated his probation when he was arrested for armed robbery. The penalty was life in prison.
"I would just literally walk around and tell my son's story to the sidewalk if the sidewalk would listen," Mary said. "What I'm trying to get the world to understand, my son was sentenced to that type of sentence for a non-homicide crime."
After the Supreme Court holding, Terrance, and other lifer inmates who went in as juveniles received case reviews and re-sentencing hearings.
According to a report by the Florida Times Union, Jacksonville man Anthony Dixon, was given a chance at freedom due to the holding in Graham's case. Dixon received a life sentence in 1975 on a sexual battery charge at the age of 14.
Seventy-five cases of juvenile life sentences in Duval, Nassau and Clay counties are under review as of December according to the State Attorney's Office.
Though Terrance's win in 2010 led to freedom for other inmates across the country, Mary said her fight continues to have her own son released. Terrance is currently serving a new 25-year sentence and is awaiting a hearing in Jacksonville Tuesday in attempt to get that sentence lessened more.
On Saturday, May 13 at 10 a.m. before the hearing, Mary is planning hundreds of next steps at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
"This is the first thing in fifteen years [Terrance has] asked me to do," Mary said. "He asked me if I would do a walk around the pre-trial detention center."
She hopes members of the public with join her in support of Graham, reform, and ultimately for her son, now 31, to experience adulthood without bars.
"He was a kid when he went in, he's a young man now," Mary said. "I want to see him come home and walk out with me...he's served his time."