Holmes v. Pennsylvania

Cecil Holmes, age 70; Lori Lassiter, age 62; John Payne, age 70; and Marsha Scaggs age 62 filed King’s Bench petitions requesting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court take immediate action and declare that its historic decision striking down mandatory life without parole sentences for felony murder applies retroactively. The filings come nearly six months after the Court’s landmark ruling in Commonwealth v. Derek Lee where the Court found mandatory life without parole for felony murder was a cruel punishment in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution. A person can be convicted under Pennsylvania law of felony murder, a second-degree murder charge, if they are convicted of a felony during which a death occurs, regardless of their level of involvement.

They are among more than 1,100 people sentenced to die in prison for felony murder and are represented pro bono by Abolitionist Law Center, Pennsylvania Innocence Project, and Phillips Black.

While the Lee ruling could be a ray of hope for over 1,100 Pennsylvanians and their families, the months since have been beset with questions and uncertainty about the path forward. When it struck down Mr. Lee’s sentence, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to say whether or not its ruling applied retroactively for other people convicted of second-degree murder. The Court stayed Mr. Lee’s resentencing proceedings for 120 days to give the legislature time to pass a bill in response to its ruling. That 120 days expired on July 24 without legislative action. Mr. Holmes, Ms. Lassiter, Mr. Payne, and Ms. Scaggs petition for a ruling to apply the Lee decision retroactively so that hundreds more can seek resentencing in the trial courts.