Victims families updated after man convicted to murder of two Oneonta teens released from prison

More than 20-years after receiving a life sentence for his involvement in the beating deaths of 2 Oneonta teens, Nathan Gast has been released from prison a free man.   In February 1992, the bodies of 14-year-old Kevin Duncan and 15-year-old Allen Eakes were found along Shades Creek off Highway 150 in Bessemer. According to court records, 15-year-old Nathan Gast, 16-year-old Christopher Thrasher and 17-year-old Carvin Stargell beat Duncan and Eakes with a bat and left them for dead.  A 14-year-old female victim was injured, but survived. 
After the incident, Gast was the one to notify police and help lead them to the 3^rd victim, who was found in the Eastern Valley area. According to his attorney, Tommy Spina, prosecutors did not originally plan to charge Gast.  Thrasher and Stargell were convicted of both murders and sentenced to life without parole. Gast ending up pleading guilty to one count of murder and one count of attempted murder and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.  Gast has appeared before a parole board on several occasions, but has been denied each time.   On July 2^nd, Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge David Carpenter granted a motion re-sentencing Gast to 20-years, with credit for time served and orded his release. Gast’s attorney, Tommy Spina, filed the motion based on the 2012 Supreme Court ruling on Miller v. Alabama, which declared life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional.
District Attorney Arthur Green did not oppose the motion and agreed that Gast should have been released.  While The defense and prosecution feel Judge Carpenter’s decision was the right call the families of Kevin Duncan and Allen Eakes disagree. The Duncan and Eakes families say they’ve been contact by the state Attorney General’s Office. Officers there say they plan to appeal this decision.