Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules mandatory life without parole for second-degree murder unconstitutional

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that mandatory life sentences without the possibility for parole for second-degree murder convictions are unconstitutional.

The court majority ordered resentencing in the case of Derek Lee, who was convicted of a 2014 killing in Pittsburgh, but the decision also has implications for others among the roughly 1,000 other inmates currently serving similar second-degree murder sentences.

In the majority opinion filed on March 26, Chief Justice Debra Todd said the court determined mandatory life without parole sentences for all felony murder convictions are "inconsistent with the protections bestowed upon our citizens under the 'cruel punishments' clause of our Commonwealth's organic charter."

The order will be stayed for 120 days to give the state's General Assembly time to establish a remediation process for individuals serving life sentences for felony murder.

"Life without parole imposes the harshest imprisonment sanction permitted under the law ─ imprisonment until death without the opportunity for consideration of release ─ regardless of culpability. Due to this scheme's mandatory nature and its unique severity, it poses a great risk of disproportionate punishment," Todd wrote.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro responded to the ruling on social media, writing, "I have long believed this law is unjust and wrong. As Governor, I took legal action in this case arguing to strike down this sentencing framework."

"Common sense and true justice dictate that we need different penalties for different conduct," Shapiro continued, and called on lawmakers to create a "thought, just process" to remediation.

Rebecca Spangler, the first assistant and chief of staff to the Allegheny County district attorney, said in an email that the office will follow the court's order.

"We will await any legislative action and we will prepare to act according to the Court's opinion and any forthcoming legislation," Spangler said.

Pennsylvania law has made people liable for second-degree murder if they participated in an eligible felony that led to death, and life with no possibility of parole has been the only possible sentence.

The state high court's decision comes after years of advocacy to undo mandatory life without parole sentences both in Pennsylvania and nationally. In some states, that has included removing life without parole sentences for younger offenders. Todd said advocacy groups provided inconsistent numbers — from two to 11 — regarding how many states have mandatory life without parole, without exception, for felony murder.

Justice Kevin Dougherty noted in a separate opinion that unlike those convicted of first-degree murder, defendants serving life without parole for second-degree murder have "never been found by a judge or jury to have harbored the specific intent to kill" and may not have had "any involvement whatsoever with the actual killing. He or she does not even have to expect or foresee that a life may be taken."

Lee's lawyers had wanted the court to rule that life without parole sentences are unconstitutional for all second-degree murder convictions in Pennsylvania, said Quinn Cozzens, a staff attorney for the Abolitionist Law Center, which helped represent Lee. Instead, trial judges will have to examine the individual circumstances of a defendant's case to decide which sentence is most appropriate, including the potential of life without parole.

The state's public defenders' association said the ruling will generate new post-conviction litigation and require them to do more investigation as well as develop "strategic litigation" to get the decision to apply retroactivity.

A jury convicted Lee of second-degree murder but acquitted him of first-degree murder in 44-year-old Leonard Butler's shooting death. Butler was shot in a struggle over a gun with Lee's codefendant, Paul Durham.

Prosecutors argued it should be up to state lawmakers and the executive branch to address the policy issues surrounding second-degree murder sentences. Todd wrote that while the district attorney's office "acknowledges that there may be persuasive arguments why a non-slayer should not be held to the same degree of culpability as the slayer, it stresses that these are policy decisions for the General Assembly."

Cozzens urged lawmakers to "address this constitutional violation, given that the court granted them the opportunity to do so."

Rep. Tim Briggs, a suburban Philadelphia Democrat who chairs the state House Judiciary Committee, said he planned to engage with Senate Republicans on potential legislation in response.

Briggs said he wanted to have decision apply retroactively, to give people serving life "for being the getaway driver" to "have the opportunity to have their facts looked at again."

"I think inaction leaves a lot of this up to the courts to decide. I don't feel comfortable doing that," Briggs said. "We have a policymaking role here."

Justice Sallie Mundy wrote that Lee "willingly participated in an armed home invasion and robbery, and purposefully engaged in assaultive behavior in the form of tasing and pistol-whipping the victim." She said Lee and Durham "arguably kidnapped the victims by forcing them into the basement" and it will be up to the county judge to decide if Lee's life-without-parole sentence is appropriate.

Todd's opinion cited an advocacy group's claim that 73% of those convicted of felony murder, as it's sometimes called, in the state were 25 or younger when the killing occurred and just under 70% are Black people.