CLEARFIELD — Convict-ed murderer Jessica Holt­meyer, who was 16 when she killed a fellow student in Bradford Township, Clear­field County, by hanging her, twice, then hitting her in the head with a rock, was resentenced in Clearfield County Court on Friday.

Holtmeyer, 36, formerly of Clearfield, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the death of Kimberly Dotts in 1998.

In 1999, Holtmeyer was given a life sentence with no chance of parole, but a Supreme Court decision determined that this sentence is cruel and unusual punishment for a juvenile.

That decision was retroactive, giving Holtmeyer and other convicted juveniles another chance to appeal their terms in prison.

A Pennsylvania Supreme Court took this a step further when they ruled that a sentence of life in prison without parole can only be given to a minor if the Commonwealth can prove the defendant cannot be rehabilitated.

This has made it “virtually impossible” to justify a life without parole sentence for a juvenile murderer, according to Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr.

In July, a hearing was held before presiding Senior Judge Daniel Howsare of Bedford County, during which the defense called three witnesses to testify that Holtmeyer has already been rehabilitated.

According to Troy Edwards, a re-entry coordinator with the Department of Corrections at the state prison in Muncy, Holtmeyer is “one of the best” certified peer support specialists he has worked with at the prison.

He explained that you need a certain skill set and “have to be really good with people” to have this position. A second co-worker also praised Holtmeyer’s importance to inmates getting ready to re-enter society.

On Friday, Howsare referred to this testimony as key in making his decision.

“It has not been an easy decision for me,” Howsare stated, adding that without the information on her rehabilitation, he would have had no problem giving her life in prison without parole.

Instead, Howsare vacated her entire 1999 sentence from Judge John Reilly and then sentenced her to 35 years to life in prison for first degree murder, 10 to 20 years for criminal conspiracy and three to 10 years for aggravated assault. The second and third sentences will run concurrent to the lead offense.

Holtmeyer will receive credit for time served, meaning she could be eligible for parole in about 15 years.

Howsare noted that his decision may not make anyone happy, but he felt it was consistent with all of the information he reviewed, including testimony, the trial transcripts, victim impact statements and briefs from both sides.

Attorney Patrick Lavelle said in an interview after the hearing, that he will file a motion asking the judge to reconsider the maximum sentence of life in prison for the murder charge.

After the hearing, Shaw said that he was hoping Howsare would keep the original sentences on the additional charges given by Reilly. Reilly had given Holtmeyer a consecutive term of 20 to 40 years in prison on the conspiracy charge.

Testimony in Holtmeyer’s trial revealed that a group of teens including Holtmeyer and Aaron Straw, then 18, hanged Dotts twice because they were afraid she was going to snitch on their plans to run away to Florida.

Holtmeyer was also convicted of smashing Dotts’ face with a basketball-sized rock while the girl lay convulsing on the ground after the second hanging.

Next, they covered her body and left it in rural area known as Gallows Harbor where she was found days later.

This crime made national news and became the subject of an episode of Killer Kids — “Tattletale Terror & Army Brat” — which formerly aired on the Biography Channel.