Pa. high court fast tracks juvenile lifer appeals

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court is moving quickly to determine how the state should respond to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional.

The state Supreme Court on Monday scheduled oral arguments for Sept. 13 in a pair of cases that will determine what to do about the hundreds of people already serving such sentences, as well as how to handle the issue going forward.

The defendants are Ian Cunningham, serving life for a second-degree murder conviction out of Philadelphia, and Qu’Eed Batts, convicted of first-degree murder in Northampton County.

Cunningham’s case concerns lifers who have exhausted direct appeals and want to bring up the high court’s ruling as a new matter. In the Batts case, the justices directed lawyers to address what the appropriate remedy is, as a general matter, for those sentenced to life without parole.

The 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision issued June 25 left it possible for juveniles to get life, but said it cannot be automatic.

Under Pennsylvania law, a first-degree murder conviction can only result in the death penalty or life without parole. A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic sentence of life without parole.