About 1,100 in Pennsylvania can seek new sentences after lawmakers miss key deadline
About 1,100 people can now request new sentences after Pennsylvania lawmakers failed to meet a midnight deadline to pass new guidelines.
This comes after the state Supreme Court ruled life without parole for second-degree murder unconstitutional in March.
Second-degree murder is handed down when someone is charged as an accomplice to a murder that happens during another felony like arson or robbery.
The state legislature had 120 days to decide on a mandatory minimum for those convicted of second-degree murder but that deadline has now passed.
House lawmakers have passed a plan that would allow parole after 30 years and leave minimum sentencing guidelines to Pennsylvania’s Commission on Sentencing.
The changes also would allow medical release for inmates.