Court Opinion

ID: 9401558
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-13 16:09:38.639806+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:53.525324
License: Public Domain

J-A22010-22

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

    COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA               :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                               :        PENNSYLVANIA
                                               :
                v.                             :
                                               :
                                               :
    DEREK LEE                                  :
                                               :
                       Appellant               :   No. 1008 WDA 2021

       Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered December 19, 2016
     In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Criminal Division at
                        No(s): CP-02-CR-0016878-2014

BEFORE:      OLSON, J., DUBOW, J., and COLINS, J.*

CONCURRING MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.:                      FILED: JUNE 13, 2023

        I agree with the well-reasoned Majority Memorandum finding that we

are bound by existing case law that holds that the mandatory imposition of

life without parole for a defendant convicted of second-degree murder is

constitutional under both the U.S. Constitution and the Pennsylvania

Constitution.

        I write separately only to suggest that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court

revisit whether a mandatory minimum sentence of life without parole imposed

for all second-degree murder convictions is constitutional under Article I,

Section 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. In light of changes in related

case law from other states and research and policy concerns regarding the

criminal justice system, it is important to revisit the factors set forth in

____________________________________________

*   Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
J-A22010-22

Commonwealth v. Edmunds, 586 A.2d 887 (Pa. 1991), to determine

whether the rights that the Pennsylvania Constitution grants to defendants

are still coextensive to the rights that Eighth Amendment grants to

defendants, especially in light of the mandatory nature of the life without

parole sentence.

     If I were not bound by existing case law, I would have remanded the

case to the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing on the Edmunds factors.

                                    -2-