The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Pennsylvania’s practice of sentencing those convicted of felony murder to automatic life sentences is unconstitutional.

Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday called on lawmakers to send him legislation responding to the ruling.

“Common sense and true justice dictate that we need different penalties for different conduct. For example, the getaway driver shouldn’t get the same sentence as the person who pulls the trigger,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Per the Supreme Court’s order, it is now time for the General Assembly to act and come up with a thoughtful, just process to address those who are serving life sentences for second degree murder.”

The ruling impacts inmates who were convicted of felony murder, meaning they were convicted of committing a felony crime during which someone was killed.

In this case, Derek Lee was convicted for his role in a 2014 robbery in Pittsburgh in which a victim was killed. Court documents indicate that Lee pistol-whipped one of the victims in the basement of a home, then ran upstairs. After Lee left the room, one of the victims was shot and died while trying to take a gun from the other robber. Lee was convicted of second-degree murder.

The ruling likely will impact between 1,100-1,300 inmates who are serving life sentences for felony murder convictions, Saleem Holbrook, executive director of the Abolitionist Law Center, told CapitolWire/State Affairs in an interview Thursday. The Abolitionist Law Center represented Lee in the appeal.

Of this total, 700 people have served more than 20 years of their sentence, with 300 of these individuals over the age of 60, Rep. Tim Briggs, the majority chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a memo seeking support for legislation that would end the practice of sentencing defendants to life in prison without the possibility of parole in felony murder cases.

The state’s use of automatic life sentences in felony murder cases has contributed to Pennsylvania having more inmates serving life behind bars than almost any other state.

A report released in January 2025 by The Sentencing Project found that there were 56,245 people nationally serving life behind bars, a 68% increase since 2003. That report found that only Florida and California have more people serving life sentences without parole than Pennsylvania.

“This is a huge win in the incremental process of ending these mandatory life without parole sentences because they really remove any discretion for the court to actually impose proportional sentences,” Holbrook said.

Holbrook knows more than a little about the subject. He was imprisoned and sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile and was released only after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that juvenile life sentences are unconstitutional.

“I also know from personal experience that there are so many people on the inside who are deserving and worthy of release and none of them are asking for just automatic release, just open the doors. What they have always been asking for, what we’ve always been advocating for, is just an opportunity to go in front of a board, to go in front of a judge,” Holbrook said.

“We’re not the people that we were decades before we were sentenced to those draconian sentences.”

The state’s response to the court decision regarding juvenile life sentences sheds light on the path forward. After the court decision, the General Assembly approved Senate Bill 850, which became Act 204, eliminating mandatory life sentences for juveniles. Under Act 204, defendants 14 or younger serve at least 20 years for second-degree convictions and 25 years for first-degree convictions. Offenders who are 15- to 17-years old face at least 25 or 35 years behind bars.

Legislation to end the use of life sentences for felony murder has been introduced in both chambers.

Briggs introduced House Bill 443 in February 2025. The bill has not come up for a vote in committee. The maximum sentence for felony murder under HB 443 would be 50 years behind bars. The legislation sets out a schedule of when inmates would be eligible for parole based on the circumstances in their cases.

Briggs said lawmakers “will be deliberative and we will be deliberative and determined to rectify these unconstitutional sentences while also making sure our communities remain safe.”

However, he noted that the justices only gave lawmakers 120 days to respond to their ruling.

“Justice demands we act to right the wrongs of our past, and the House Judiciary Committee will work to move legislation as quickly as possible to stop these constitutional violations,” he said.

Senate Bill 387 was introduced by Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, and Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, in March 2025. It is in the Senate judiciary Committee.