HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down mandatory life sentences for people convicted of second-degree murder as unconstitutional under the Pennsylvania constitution, a watershed moment in the history of the state’s centuries-old justice system.
Until today, people in Pennsylvania could serve the same sentence for being a getaway driver during a botched robbery or causing an injury that later lead to death as someone who
knowingly plotted and carried out a killing.
“We determine that a mandatory life without parole sentence for all felony murder convictions, absent an assessment of culpability, is inconsistent with the protections bestowed upon our citizens under the ‘cruel punishments’ clause of our Commonwealth’s organic charter,” wrote Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Todd for the majority.
The ruling was unanimous in part, with Justice Kevin Brobson dissenting in part.
The outcome ensures that, going forward, people convicted of second-degree murder will receive sentences that consider their individual responsibility in the course of the crime.
The court stayed its ruling for 120 days to give the legislature time to amend the laws that require the now-unconstitutional sentencing scheme.
It could also fundamentally change the lives of more than 1,000 people currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for, in some cases, murders they did not commit. The court explicitly did not take a position on whether the ruling should be retroactive, instead leaving such a decision up to the legislature.
The legislature could address the issue by lifting the prohibition on parole for people serving a life sentence from a second degree murder conviction, said Quinn Cozzens, an attorney with the Abolitionist Law Center who served as counsel on the case.
“So, that would apply to anyone who has already been sentenced, anyone who will be sentenced in the future, and would really alleviate a huge burden on the courts, defense attorneys, people serving these sentences to go through the process of resentencing potentially up to 1,000 people or more,” Cozzens said.
A bipartisan bill sponsored by Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia) is currently moving through the state Senate and would provide such a remedy, allowing the parole board to consider someone convicted of second-degree murder for release after 25 years.
There is sufficient appetite in the legislature to get something done, Street told Spotlight PA.
“I’ve been advocating that we do this because the result of our legal system is there are people who were not the actual shooter who end up serving life in prison when the actual shooter did not,” Street said. “It’s inconsistent with people’s understanding of how justice should work.”
Legislative inaction would open the door for appeals from those serving life for second-degree murder, Cozzens said, which likely require the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to rule again in order to clarify whether the holding in Lee applies retroactively.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, in a post to X, celebrated the decision and called on the General Assembly to act, and “come up with a thoughtful, just process to address those who are serving life sentences for second degree murder.”
Though dozens of states have second-degree murder charges on the books, only Pennsylvania and Louisiana require a life sentence.
The underlying case in Thursday’s decision centers on 36-year-old Allegheny County man Derek Lee. In 2014, Lee and an accomplice committed an armed robbery, forcing victims Leonard Butler and Tina Chapple into their basement. Lee pistol-whipped and robbed Butler, but left the basement before his co-defendant shot the man during a scuffle.
At oral arguments in October 2024, state Supreme Court justices seemed primed to overrule the sentencing scheme for Lee, if not the hundreds like him, spending much of the lengthy arguments discussing the logistics.
“Individuals are being punished for a crime for which no level of [criminal intent] has been established, which is truly contrary to anything I can count as fair in a sentencing scheme,” Justice Christine Donohue told Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Kevin McCarthy, who argued on behalf of the commonwealth.
More than a dozen interested parties filed amicus briefs in support of Lee’s position, including Shapiro, who argued mandatory life in prison could be an extremely harsh outcome for a person who did not commit a murder.
The Office of the Attorney General filed a brief agreeing with Shapiro’s position, but arguing that the courts should not be used as a method to compel action from the legislature.
The decision Thursday remands Lee’s case, and Lee’s alone, back to the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County for resentencing.