Pennsylvania Supreme Court Overturns Mandatory Life-Without-Parole for Second Degree Murder

March 26, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Andy Hoover, andy@hoovercomms.com, 717-256-1293

PHILADELPHIA - In a landmark ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court today found that a mandatory sentence of life without parole for people convicted of second degree murder is unconstitutional. The court ruled that the sentence conflicts with the Pennsylvania Constitution’s ban on cruel punishment.

The court’s ruling came in the case of Derek Lee from Allegheny County. Lee was involved in a robbery in Pittsburgh in 2014 with another man. While Lee was upstairs, another man involved in the robbery killed a man in the basement. A person can be convicted of second degree murder if they are involved in committing a felony and someone is killed during the act, even if the person did not intend to kill anyone and was not involved in the action that led to a death. 

The case was argued by Abolitionist Law Center, Amistad Law Project, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The Atlantic Center for Capital Representation filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of two former secretaries of the Board of Pardons, Celeste Trusty and the late Brandon Flood.

“Life without parole is really death by incarceration. That’s the outcome the commonwealth gets with this sentence,” said Frances Harvey, interim executive director of the Atlantic Center. “It’s an extreme sentence that, by definition, denies the possibility for redemption or rehabilitation. And it’s overused in Pennsylvania, including for people like Derek Lee, who didn’t kill anyone.”

In the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Debra Todd, the court said, “Ultimately, we find that the mandatory sentencing scheme for second degree murder poses too great a risk of disproportionate punishment, and, thus, find it to be cruel.”

There are currently more than 5,000 people serving life without parole in Pennsylvania, accounting for ten percent of the total number of people incarcerated for that sentence nationwide. More than 1,000 of them were convicted of second degree murder.

Pennsylvania is one of just two states that mandate a life without parole sentence for someone convicted of second degree murder, regardless of their intent to kill or their involvement in the act that led to someone’s death.

The Atlantic Center’s brief in the case argued that the pardon and commutation power of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons is not a reasonable substitute for parole opportunities. The state constitution requires a unanimous vote of the board for a recommendation to the governor for clemency for a person serving a life or death sentence, a recommendation that is rarely obtained.

During his two terms from 1971 to 1979, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp commuted the sentences of 257 people serving life-without-parole. The nine governors since then have granted clemency to just 94 lifers, an average of two per year.

“For decades, Pennsylvania has overrelied on death by incarceration, rooted in the politics of mass incarceration,” Harvey said. “And like the rest of the criminal legal system, there is a disproportionate impact on Black Pennsylvanians.”

According to a 2021 study by Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, 70 percent of people convicted of second-degree murder in Pennsylvania are Black. 

Others filing briefs in Lee’s favor included Governor Josh Shapiro, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, two former secretaries of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, people who have served life sentences, family members of murder victims, and numerous public interest law organizations, including the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and the ACLU of Pa.

More information about the case, including legal filings, is available at the website of the Abolitionist Law Center. The Atlantic Center’s filing on behalf of Trusty and Flood is available here. 

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