While top prosecutors push the state House to approve a Republican-sponsored measure on felony-murder resentencing, a spokesperson for state House Democratic leaders says there's still no agreement despite a last-minute voting session set for Thursday.
And though the state Senate proposal passed on two occasions with bipartisan support, House Democrats are not expected to approve the GOP-backed legislation.
Defendants may be charged and convicted of felony, or second-degree, murder if they participated in a crime that resulted in a homicide, even if they did not directly cause a victim's death — such as acting as a getaway driver or an accomplice.
The state Supreme Court ruled in March that life sentences for second-degree murder are unconstitutional and gave the legislature until Friday to act.
Several events for media this week featured mostly Republican state lawmakers and county district attorneys, who say House Democrats must pass the Senate's preferred resentencing bill by Friday — or risk the 1,160 people sentenced to life in prison appealing their terms.
But the office of House Speaker Joanna McClinton said in a statement that the Senate's proposal — teed up in an amended House bill that could technically make it to Gov. Josh Shapiro's desk by Friday evening — is not yet agreed to, meaning the deadline will lapse.
"It has become clear that no legislative solution will be negotiated before the end of the 120-day period. Decisions as important as these should not be politicized," said Nicole Reigelman, McClinton's spokesperson.
The state Supreme Court case at the heart of the ruling involved a 2014 Pittsburgh robbery that led to a fatal shooting: Derek Lee was convicted of second-degree murder even though he was on another floor of the home at the time of the killing.
"If no action is taken, Lee will be resentenced by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas to a sentence up to life without parole," Reigelman said. "In the continued absence of agreement on a path forward, we will continue [to] rely on the sound judgement of courts across this commonwealth to impose just sentences."
She noted that in 2012 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juvenile life sentences were unconstitutional, the resentencing process for hundreds of incarcerated people has taken more than a decade — and those who may request resentencing for their own felony-murder cases also won't find answers quickly, Reigelman said.
"This is not the first time the commonwealth has experienced this," she added.
During three occasions this week — including one Wednesday with state Attorney General Dave Sunday — Harrisburg Republicans said their measure to offer a 35-year mandatory minimum sentence for offenders is necessary to prevent "chaos" at county-level courts and among victims' families.
Their proposal, first introduced as a Senate bill and later as a House bill amendment, also offers a path to parole for lifers with second-degree convictions. The measures each passed 30-20, with four Democrats agreeing. Meanwhile, House Democrats support parole after 20 years, setting a mandatory maximum instead of a minimum, among other differences with the Senate GOP.
But without action, Senate Appropriations chair Scott Martin said a patchwork of judicial decisions is unacceptable.
"Can you imagine if 67 counties had started sentencing people in 67 different ways? And then the whole 'nother level of appeals and lawsuits related to disproportionate treatment under the law? It's just, it's going to create chaos," he told reporters in Lancaster.
Through a spokesperson, the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court declined to comment on the possible lapse in state sentencing guidance.
Lawmakers said about 580 cases in which resentencing could be sought are based in Philadelphia. The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment about the number of cases that could require resentencing locally.
Also on Wednesday, Attorney General Sunday agreed that some of the tough-on-crime rhetoric shared earlier this week — that more than 1,100 people convicted of felony murder would soon be released if an agreement is not reached on the law — is not realistic.
"That's not the way that the system works … what I can say [is] the very next day will most likely be hundreds of petitions for resentencing," Sunday said. "I respect and trust the court, [but] when you have that many petitions filed all throughout the entirety of Pennsylvania, you're going to have a complete chaotic situation" for prosecutors and families of victims.
"This will ultimately work its way back up to the [state] Supreme Court again, and that might be on the issue of maybe retroactivity," Sunday added.
The attorney general said House Democrats must at least agree on a mandatory maximum sentence, as the state's high court ruled on only the mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.
Martin said if the House doesn't pass the Senate's preferred version and acts on another proposal, it will require senators to again return to Harrisburg for votes, ultimately missing the deadline. If that's the outcome, he said, House leadership would be "just playing games."
"It's going to be telling what they do, right?" Martin said. "We'll have to see what they come back with, but there's an easy, simple solution to this that they could do and would make this all right."
Later Thursday, AG Sunday, other lawmakers and law enforcement officials — including federal representatives of the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — are expected to meet in Johnstown, Cambria County, for another media event and "public safety roundtable."
Earlier this week, similar events were held in Bucks, Luzerne and Lancaster County. District Attorneys from both parties, including statements from the state DA association, say they want action by Friday.
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