Lifers Seek Resentencing Pathway

Lifers ask Pennsylvania Supreme Court to open pathway for resentencing after legislative inaction.

Four people serving mandatory life for second-degree murder in Pennsylvania are asking the state Supreme Court to act quickly through a King's Bench petition, a legal process that allows the court to take up a legal matter directly. The petition argues that sentencing a person to life without parole without considering their role in a murder is unnecessarily cruel under the Pennsylvania Constitution. The Supreme Court stayed its ruling until July 24 to allow the General Assembly time to correct the unconstitutional sentencing laws. However, the legislature adjourned in July without sending legislation addressing the ruling. The petitions argue that those serving decades in prison are at risk of never seeing the benefit of this Court’s ruling with further delay. Since 2021, the court has received 288 such petitions.

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