The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision deeming life without parole for juvenile murderers to be unconstitutional will not be applied retroactively in Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
A sharply divided court ruled 4-3 in Commonwealth v. Cunningham on Oct. 30 that because the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama is essentially a procedural issue, it cannot not be applied retroactively under established precedent. The Miller court held that mandatory life without parole for juvenile offenders is unconstitutional.
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