Derek Lee to be resentenced as court throws out his life-without-parole punishment

CONTACT:
Emily Cleath, Abolitionist Law Center, 412-482-4242, emily@alcenter.org 
Jules Rodgers, Amistad Law Project, 214-542-4117, jules@amistadlaw.org 
Jen Nessel, Center for Constitutional Rights, jnessel@ccrjustice.org

March 26, 2026, Pittsburgh – Today, in a landmark ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found mandatory life without parole for felony murder an unconstitutional punishment. The justices ruled that because Derek Lee’s sentence did not consider his individual culpability, a mandatory life without parole sentence is disproportionate and cruel under Pennsylvania’s constitution. This ruling marks a historic first time since its original enactment in 1790 that the state constitution’s prohibition on “cruel punishments” has been given independent – and broader – meaning than the federal Constitution’s prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishments.”  

The court ruled 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.” Recognizing the gravity of a life without parole sentence, the court wrote, “Life without parole imposes the harshest imprisonment sanction permitted under the law ─ imprisonment until death without the opportunity for consideration of release ─ regardless of culpability.” Because the decision will have broad impacts, the court’s ruling will be stayed for 120 days to give the Pennsylvania legislature an opportunity to remedy the unconstitutional sentencing scheme through legislation.

“I humbly thank all my brothers and sisters behind the walls of every institution in the state for your support, words of encouragement, and, most of all, for your prayers,” said Derek Lee. “I commend the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and acknowledge the countless individuals and organizations who have put a hand to the plow in a conglomerative effort to push this case to victory.”

The application of the felony murder rule, which holds liable for murder a person who participates in a felony that leads to a death, is particularly extreme in Pennsylvania because the only possible sentence is life without parole. 

In Pennsylvania, there are more than 1,000 people serving life without parole for felony murder, and 70 percent of them are Black. With the court granting Mr. Lee’s challenge to his sentence, the state’s ban on parole for all those convicted of felony murder has been abolished. This historic ruling will have broad implications for the effort to reduce or end life imprisonment, a defining feature of the U.S. criminal legal system. Lee’s case emerges from a grassroots movement led by incarcerated people and their families who refer to life imprisonment without parole as Death by Incarceration (DBI). With more than 5,200 people serving DBI sentences, Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of DBI sentencing in the world, with Philadelphia having sentenced more people to die in prison than any local jurisdiction on the planet. More than 50,000 people are serving DBI sentences in the United States – 83 percent of the world’s total. 

“This ruling represents the culmination of decades of movement-building by incarcerated people and their families and communities, while also marking the onset of a new phase in the struggle to abolish Death by Incarceration,” said Bret Grote, Legal Director of the Abolitionist Law Center. “The movement to end DBI has forced an epochal transformation in state constitutional jurisprudence that will have profound ramifications for future generations fighting for the dignity, humanity, and right to redemption of incarcerated people in Pennsylvania and beyond.”

In 2014, Lee and another man allegedly broke into a house in Pittsburgh to commit robbery. According to the prosecution, Lee was upstairs when the other man shot and killed someone in the basement. Lee was automatically sentenced to life without parole in prison and has already served more than ten years of his sentence. At a hearing in October, his lawyers argued that his sentence violates both the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits “cruel and unusual” punishment, and the Pennsylvania constitution, which, in banning “cruel” punishment, is coextensive with or broader in protection than its federal counterpart. Lee is also represented by Amistad Law Project and the Center for Constitutional Rights.  

“We are overjoyed for the hundreds of people in Pennsylvania who will be reunited with their loved ones as a result of this decision,” said Nikki Grant, Co-Executive Director of Amistad Law Project. “Like countless other people incarcerated in Pennsylvania, Derek Lee has worked to make amends for the harm he’s caused in spite of the inhumane conditions of prison, not because of it. We applaud the PA Supreme Court for acknowledging long prison sentences are counterproductive to public safety. We look forward to welcoming beloved community members back home as quickly as possible.” 

Like many other incarcerated people, Lee has managed to grow over the years despite the ever-present brutality and dearth of rehabilitative resources in prisons. According to his mother, Betty Lee, he preaches in prison as the assistant to the chaplain and was appointed to the executive board of the Pennsylvania Lifers’ Association. When he returns to his community in Pittsburgh, he will be a powerful role model for young men, she says. 

“This ruling brings a measure of hope and redemption to over 1,000 people serving death by incarceration in Pennsylvania, however it is also another step in our battle to abolish all death by incarceration sentences in Pennsylvania,” said Robert Saleem Holbrook, executive director of the Abolitionist Law Center.

“Death by incarceration is torture, and we are elated that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has finally recognized the cruelty of these sentencing schemes,” said Samah Sisay, Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The General Assembly must now take action to ensure that Derek Lee and many other people serving life in prison without parole for felony murder – a majority of whom are Black and elderly – can finally have the opportunity to return home to their families and communities.”

Amicus briefs were filed in the case by former Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretaries John Wetzel and George Little, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the MacArthur Justice Center, Eighth Amendment Law Scholars, and The Sentencing Project, Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, Fair and Just Prosecution, and FAMM.

Read all the briefs and documents on the Center for Constitutional Rights website here. 

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The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners, and organized for the purpose of abolishing class and race based mass incarceration in the United States. Abolitionist Law Center litigates on behalf of people whose human rights have been violated in prison, educates the general public about the evils of mass incarceration, and works to develop a mass movement against the American punishment system by building alliances and nurturing solidarity across social divisions. Follow Abolitionist Law Center on Facebook, @AbolitionistLC on Twitter, and @Abolitionistlc on Instagram.

Amistad Law Project is a public interest law firm and organizing project working to end mass incarceration in Pennsylvania. Founded and led by Black feminists, we work to abolish death by incarceration, create alternatives to policing, and get our communities the material resources and power they need to thrive. Follow Amistad on Facebook, Bluesky and Instagram.

The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Follow the Center for Constitutional Rights on Facebook, @theCCR on Twitter, and ccrjustice on Instagram.