Anguished parents confront prospect of facing son’s killer again in court
September 18, 2026
TribLive: “Two years ago Tami and Jeff Jaillet sat in an Allegheny County courtroom describing the worst five days of their lives.
In haunting detail, they told a courtroom full of strangers how their 21-year-old son, whose body had been ravaged by a bullet while his mind remained fully intact, asked them to let him die….
On Wednesday, the state Superior Court vacated the life sentence for the man who killed Jacob and sent the case back to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court for resentencing….
Burton is one of about 1,100 people in Pennsylvania serving what is today considered to be an illegal sentence for second-degree murder.
In March, the state Supreme Court declared in the Derek Lee case out of Allegheny County that mandatory life without parole for second-degree murder is unconstitutional because it fails to consider the individual’s level of culpability in the crime….
‘It’s an example of the Superior Court doing what is necessary under the law,’ said Bret Grote, the legal director of the Abolitionist Law Center. ‘Even if it’s not raised by the parties, the court has an obligation to vacate an unconstitutional sentence.'”