James Comer is greeted by friends and family upon his release from Northern State Prison in Newark on Oct. 17, 2025. (Photo by Steve Hockstein/HarvardStudio.com)
A man whose criminal case helped redefine juvenile justice in New Jersey left prison Friday after nearly 26 years behind bars, a release civil rights advocates celebrated as an affirmation of their decade-long fight against extreme prison sentences for minors.
James Comer was 17 when he was sentenced in 2003 to 75 years behind bars — with no possibility of parole for 68 years — for a deadly 2000 robbery spree in Newark in which he was an accomplice but not the triggerman.
He successfully appealed, with the state Supreme Court decreeing in 2022 that juveniles shouldn’t face the same mandatory sentences adults face, that judges must weigh immaturity and other “hallmark features” of youth in setting punishment, and that minors condemned to lengthy sentences can petition for sentencing review after 20 years.
Since then, such sentencing reviews have become known as “Comer hearings,” and Comer had his own Comer hearing not long after his 2022 landmark win, with a judge reducing his sentence to 25 1/2 years.
Under his original sentence, he wouldn’t have been eligible for parole until 2069, at 86 years old. Instead, at age 42, he walked out of Northern State Prison in Newark Friday, meeting a joyful group of attorneys and other supporters who waited for him outside.
“It means the world to me to have the opportunity to rejoin my loved ones,” he said. “I am forever grateful for this second chance and relieved that no child will face the hopelessness that I endured when I was effectively sentenced to die in prison.”
Attorney Alexander Shalom, who represented Comer for years, said his case demonstrates the importance of second chances, especially for young people.
“James’ resilience and unwavering belief in positive change have forever advanced youth justice in New Jersey,” Shalom said.
Nationally, the U.S. Supreme Court has drastically limited extreme sentences for law-breaking minors in a series of rulings dating back to 2005, in which they barred judges from sentencing people under 18 to the death penalty, life without parole in non-homicide cases, and mandatory life terms in homicide cases, with exceptions for “permanent incorrigibility.”
In New Jersey, the state Supreme Court’s Comer ruling came after years of court fights and legislative advocacy. Since 2022, nearly 100 people condemned to lengthy terms behind bars for offenses they committed as children have successfully petitioned New Jersey courts for Comer hearings, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
Amol Sinha, the group’s executive director, said Comer’s case is “part of a bigger story of decarceration in New Jersey” and a racial justice victory in a state with some of the highest racial disparities in its prisons in the nation.
His release comes after the Christie administration ended cash bail in 2014 and the Murphy administration signed a law in 2020 allowing early releases during public health emergencies. It also comes after Gov. Phil Murphy launched a clemency effort in 2024 that has seen him pardon or commute the sentences of 170 people — more clemencies than New Jersey governors have done in the past 30 years combined. Such efforts have cut New Jersey’s prison population, now about 13,000, by about half since 2011.
“James’ story is yet another story where New Jersey can claim leadership of being one of the most forward-thinking states when it comes to decarceration and justice,” Sinha said. “He was effectively sentenced to die in prison. Because of his persistence and his fight, now dozens of people across New Jersey are able to face a more just juvenile justice system.”
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