Court Affirms Life Sentences In 2009 Sub Shop Abduction, Murder

MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ/AP) - The Michigan appeals court has upheld no-parole sentences for two young men who were teens when a customer was abducted at a Macomb County sandwich shop and killed in 2009.

The decisions released Friday are significant. Ihab Masalmani and Robert Taylor were given an opportunity for a shorter sentence as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. But a Macomb County judge — and now the appeals court — said no-parole punishments still fit the crime.

Matt Landry of Chesterfield Township was abducted from a Quizno's parking lot in Eastpointe in 2009. Evidence showed Masalmani and Taylor withdrew money from his bank account and bought drugs. Police said Landry, 21, was a random target.

According to prosecutors, Landry was held for four days before he was shot in the head. His body was later found inside a burned out vacant house in Detroit.

Taylor, 23, was 16 at the time. Masalmani, now 24, was 17.

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