The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is ruling mandatory life sentences without parole for second-degree murder unconstitutional. The highest court in the Commonwealth ruled yesterday that a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole for murder in the second-degree is “cruel punishment” under the Constitution. The decision was made in the case of Derek Lee, a man who faced a mandatory life sentence without parole after being convicted of second-degree murder, but not first-degree murder in a deadly Allegheny County home invasion in 2014. Governor Josh Shapiro called on the State Legislature to come up with a “thoughtful, just process” to address those currently serving life-sentences for second-degree murder.
Saturday 28th March 2026
