On July 31, All Rise Trial & Appellate filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of ALC and the State Law Research Initiative supporting Mr. King in the case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Ivory King in the PA Supreme Court. The Court is going to decide if his de facto life without parole sentence for offenses committed before he was 18 years old violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s prohibition against cruel punishments. ALC argues that all cases of juvenile life without parole should be prohibited under the state constitution.

As stated in his case, Mr. King is appealing a trial court’s imposing on him four sentences of 20 years to life for four first-degree murders, to be served consecutively. Mr. King committed the crime when he was 17 years old in 1998. Therefore, he will not be eligible for parole until he is 97 years old. This is a de facto life without parole sentence. 

ALC has litigated numerous cases attacking unconstitutionally long and harsh sentences imposed on juveniles, including Commonwealth v. Lee, which is currently pending before the PA Supreme Court. The connection between Mr. Lee’s and Mr. King’s cases are part of why we submitted this brief: Both cases involve the same provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which should be correctly and consistently interpreted by courts across the Commonwealth.

The U.S. Supreme Court clearly forbade mandatory life sentences without parole for people convicted of murder committed as juveniles in Miller v. Alabama (2012), and in Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016), which made the Miller ruling retroactive. In this brief, ALC argues that the Pennsylvania Constitution does not allow life without parole sentences for youth at all. 

Another key argument in Mr. King’s case is that a sentencing court found that, as a juvenile defendant, he demonstrated a capacity for change and rehabilitation. Therefore, his de facto life without parole sentence is a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Our filing asserts that it is also a violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

King is represented by Greenberg Traurig, LLP; Defender Association of Philadelphia, and Juvenile Law Center.

Read the filing.