Pennsylvania Capital-Star, 08/15/24: “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Oct. 8 in an appeal that could bring hope for freedom to more than 1,000 people serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for murders they didn’t commit.

The court in February agreed to consider the case of Derek Lee, who is serving life in prison without parole after he was convicted in 2016 of second-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy. Lee’s accomplice in a 2014 home-invasion robbery killed Pittsburgh homeowner Leonard Butler.

Under Pennsylvania’s felony murder rule, a person charged with a felony can be held criminally liable for a death that occurs during the commission of the crime, even if the defendant was not the killer and had no intent to kill. In Pennsylvania, conviction for felony murder comes with a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

Lee’s appeal, filed in May 2022, argues that mandatory life without parole violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and the state Constitution’s bar on cruel punishment.

Constitutional law scholars, former Pennsylvania corrections secretaries, and elected leaders including Gov. Josh Shapiro have filed briefs in the case in support of Lee’s appeal, arguing that life without parole for felony murder is excessive and does little to accomplish the goals of punishment.

A lower appeals court found earlier in the case that it was bound by precedent to uphold Lee’s sentence. But Superior Court Judge Christine Dubow urged the Supreme Court to revisit whether a mandatory life sentence without parole is constitutional under Article I, Section 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.”

Read the full article here.