HARRISBURG (PTTP)- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that mandatory life without parole for second-degree murder, or felony murder, is deemed unconstitutional. The ruling states that no parole for second-degree murder is against the “cruel punishments” charter in Pennsylvania’s state constitution, and that it is unjustified to prosecute someone for that crime without the possibility of parole because of their involvement in a crime that led to a death, even if they didn’t cause it.
Currently, Pennsylvania has the third-highest number of people in the U.S. serving life without parole, with an estimated one in five of them being sentenced for felony murder, with Pennsylvania and Louisiana being the only two states to mandate life without parole for second-degree murder. Previous attempts to set this in motion occurred in 2024, with PA HB 2296 highlighting the discernment between a convict who intended to commit a felony and a convict who intended to kill, with the possibility of extending parole to those convicted of felony murder. Now, this could reform the sentences of over 1,000 people in Pennsylvania convicted of second-degree murder. One notable case was Derek Lee, who was sentenced to life in prison due to his participation in a 2014 burglary in which his accomplice fatally shot the homeowner, despite Lee not being in the same room when the murder occurred. Lee challenged his life-without-parole sentence a decade ago, and his appeal affected the court’s decision.
In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Debra Todd wrote that mandatory life sentences without parole are inconsistent with the protection against ‘cruel punishments’ that the Commonwealth grants its citizens.
“According to Appellant, Pennsylvania’s failure to use the term “unusual” in conjunction with the term “cruel” is meaningful … a challenged punishment be both contrary to the common law and not continually imposed for a long period under the common law, to be deemed to be unconstitutional.”
-Opinion statement written by Chief Justice Todd
The order will remain in place for 120 days to give the PA’s General Assembly time to alter sentences for convicts currently serving felony murder. Chief Justice Todd cited a statistic from an advocacy group called Power Interfaith that asserted that 73% of those convicted of felony murder in PA were 25 years or younger, with 80% of those being people of color.