Legislature urged to create new rules for life sentences

Prosecutors and other court officials on Thursday told a panel of lawmakers that the General Assembly needs to act to set the ground rules as the judiciary adjusts to a March Supreme Court ruling finding Pennsylvania’s use of mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder convictions is unconstitutional. The ruling impacted those convicted of committing a felony that resulted in a death. Critics of the state’s use of life sentences in these cases maintain that the old sentencing scheme was unfair to those who may have been conspirators in a crime but did not directly commit…