Mandatory life sentences challenged by juvenile offenders

Mandatory life sentences challenged by juvenile offenders


In 2006, when Qu'eed Batts was just 14, he killed one man and injured another in an act of violence that was meant to boost his status in a local gang, he told police, a crime for which he is now serving a mandatory life sentence.
Seven years prior, Ian Cunningham, then 17, killed a man during a robbery in Philadelphia. Convicted of second-degree murder and robbery, he, too, is serving a mandatory life sentence.
But in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama mandatory life sentences for juveniles to be unconstitutional, opening the door for both men to appeal their sentences. Pennsylvania, which leads the nation in the number of juvenile offenders incarcerated for life with about 470, saw a flood of similar appeals, including more than 40 in Allegheny County alone.
And while the high court decisively struck down the penalty, it left myriad other questions to be answered by the states, including, most critically, if and how the decision applies to juvenile offenders already serving mandatory life sentences -- offenders like Cunningham and Batts.
Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments in appeals from both men, who are challenging their sentences. The ruling that results from the case is expected to shape how the state falls into line with the high court's decision and could radically alter the fates of those serving life without parole for crimes they committed before their 18th birthdays.
"This is a very challenging dilemma for the court," said Marsha Levick of the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, who is representing Batts. "Pennsylvania is in a bind."
Prosecutors insist that the Miller v. Alabama decision should not retroactively apply to defendants like Cunningham, who has challenged his sentence under a collateral appeal -- an appeal filed with the original court, often after new information has arisen in a case. He had exhausted his direct appeals to a higher court -- long before the mandatory life sentences were struck down. Ms. Levick estimated most of the juvenile offenders serving life have already exhausted their direct appeals.