David Laigaie comments on a second chance for juvenile lifers in Pennsylvania (The Legal Intelligencer)
January 30, 2016
David Laigaie spoke with The Legal Intelligencer about renewed hope for a second chance for juveniles sentenced to life in prison. In a 6-3 decision on Jan. 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Montgomery v. Louisiana that its own 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama, holding mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders to be unconstitutional, should be applied retroactively. The decision directly contradicted a deeply divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling from 2013 in Commonwealth v. Cunningham, in which a 4-3 majority held Miller should not be applied retroactively. “It is a real victory for justice,” Laigaie was quoted as saying in the Jan. 30 article titled “Juvenile Lifers in Pennsylvania Get Second Chance.”
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