Isaiah Sweet was seventeen years old when he murdered his grandparents with an automatic rifle. According to court documents Isaiah Sweet grandparents had called police over a dozen time in a month’s period in order to get help for the troubled youngster however the system fell through.
On Mother’s Day weekend the teen killer would open fire with an automatic rifle killing his grandparents. Isaiah claimed that his grandfather was abusive and that is what led to the murders. This teen killer was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole however in a landmark case the Iowa Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to life in prison and his sentence was reduced. Isaiah Sweet was up for parole just four years after arriving at prison however it was denied.
Isaiah Sweet 2023 Information
| Name | Isaiah Richard Sweet |
| Offender Number | 6859998 |
| Sex | M |
| Birth Date | 02/07/1995 |
| Location | Iowa State Penitentiary |
| Offense | MURDER 1ST DEGREE |
| TDD/SDD * | LIFE |
| Commitment Date | 03/12/2014 |
| Recall Date | 07/12/2020 |
| Mandatory Minimum (if applicable) |
Isaiah Sweet Other News
An Iowa man who pleaded guilty to murdering his grandparents as a teenager and won a landmark state Supreme Court case that prohibited life without parole for juveniles will remain behind bars.
Three Iowa Board of Parole members reviewed Isaiah R. Sweet’s file Thursday and found that he has made “a fairly good start” in his four years in prison by earning a career readiness certificate and completing some rehabilitative programming. But the board agreed with the Department of Corrections, which recommended Sweet not be released.
“I think more time would definitely be needed for him to make the kind of changes we would need to see before we would ever consider paroling someone,” said Board of Parole member Kathleen Kooiker.
Sweet, now 23, was 17 in 2012 when he murdered his custodial grandparents, Richard and Janet Sweet, with an assault rifle in their Manchester home. He told police that his grandfather was verbally abusive and “made his life a living hell.”
Sweet pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in 2013 and was sentenced the following year to life without parole.
But the Iowa Supreme Court in 2016 ruled that juveniles like Sweet who are convicted of murder cannot be given life sentences with no chance of parole, calling it a cruel and unusual punishment given a growing consensus among neuroscientists that teenagers’ brains have not fully developed, making them more likely to be influenced by peer pressure or impulses.
Sweet was resentenced later that year to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He is being held at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.
Thursday’s review was the first time the parole board has considered Sweet’s case. It lasted seven minutes and did not involve an interview with Sweet. His case will be reviewed on an annual basis going forward.