GALVESTON COUNTY, Texas - James Elmore Jr. was sentenced to a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison for his role in the 1984 death of 16-year-old Laura Miller, but that 20-year sentence may not mean 20 years behind bars.

Andy Kahan, Crime Victims Director and Crime Stoppers of Houston, says an old Texas law could allow Elmore to be released significantly earlier.

"We had a very strange, quirky law that was enacted in 1977, it was called the automatic mandatory release law," Kahan said.