Sentencing people to die behind bars for murders they did not commit or intend is unconstitutionally cruel, the lawyer for a former Allegheny County, Pa., man sentenced to life in prison without parole argued Tuesday. Abolitionist Law Center legal director Bret Grote said that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court should strike down the mandatory sentencing scheme for second degree murder — when a person is convicted for their role in a felony that results in a death they did not intend, Pennsylvania Capital Star reports. The Supreme Court agreed in February to consider the appeal of former Allegheny County resident Derek Lee, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a 2014 murder committed by his accomplice in a robbery. Grote said Lee’s punishment is disproportionately harsh given the lack of intent to kill and argued that it does little to deter others. He urged the court to find that the punishment violates both the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitutions. “If Mr. Lee lives to be 76 years old … he will have been incarcerated for 50 years. Even then, he will not be able to go in front of the parole board, even if the Department of Corrections considers him long since completely rehabilitated,” Grote told the justices. “He must die in prison for the unintended consequences of criminal conduct and a killing committed by another person. This must no longer be permitted under the Pennsylvania Constitution.” .
Lee, 36, was convicted of second-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy in the 2014 shooting death of Leonard Butler in Pittsburgh. Lee and another man entered the home Butler shared with his longtime girlfriend and forced them at gunpoint into the basement. After Butler gave Lee his watch, Lee left the basement and the other man remained. Butler’s long-term partner Tina Chapple testified that Butler lunged at the man and she heard a gunshot. Butler was struck and died from his injuries. Justice Christine Donohue said that was the issue before the court — whether it is cruel to punish someone for murder when the state has not established any level of intent or recklessness that caused the death. More than 1,100 people are serving such sentences in Pennsylvania and finding them unconstitutional could require the state’s courts to revisit each person’s case. “If these sorts of unavoidable and wide scale consequences are required, then that is necessary to enforce constitutional rights,” Grote told the court, noting that it faced a similar situation when it ruled that mandatory life without parole for juvenile offenders was unconstitutional. “Pennsylvania has had a recent resounding, unequivocal success with resentencing over 500 former juvenile lifers,” Grote said.