According to the justices’ announcement on Friday, Pennsylvania’s high court would examine whether certain prisoners’ automatic life terms for murder convictions violate their constitutional rights.
Derek Lee, who was found guilty of killing someone in 2014, is pursuing an appeal because the state’s life without parole statute breaks the ban on cruel punishment found in both the Pennsylvania and United States constitutions.
Lee claims he “did not murder or plan to kill and thus experienced categorically-diminished culpability,” but the Supreme Court stated in the ruling admitting the appeal that it will concentrate on the validity of the essential life sentence.
According to Pennsylvania law, everyone involved in a crime that carries the death penalty is guilty of murder. The only sentence available to individuals found guilty of 2nd-degree murder in the state is life in prison without the chance of parole.
Pennsylvania presently has the greatest per capita rate of persons serving “death by incarceration” sentences—roughly 5,200 people, according to advocates. The legislation unfairly impacts Black men because over 70% of people facing life without parole in Pennsylvania are Black.
Attorney Quinn Cozzens of the Abolitionist Law Center, who represents Lee, expressed his belief that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of Lee, it could have implications for all other people accused of 2nd-degree murder.
Cozzens stated, “We are simply appealing the punishment itself from the trial; we are not challenging the conviction. “Thus, even if the state has proven all of its allegations and everything is true, the sentence is still severe and does not fairly represent the guilt of a person found guilty of felony murder.”
The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association’s executive director, Kelly Callihan, stated that the appeals committee of the organization will assess the case and decide on the next phase of action.
The Allegheny County trial judge summarized the details of the October 2014 death by stating that Lee and another guy, both loaded and with their faces covered to some extent, ordered the two older members of the home to kneel while shouting at victim Leonard Butler for offering them money. Stun guns were used by one attacker.