The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reverses a lower court ruling and reinstates a life prison sentence for convicted killer Ricardo Cruz. Cruz, 32, was convicted in 1992 of murder in the shooting death of an 18 year old Lancaster City woman when he was 13 years old. Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder, Cruz appealed his sentence.
Last year the state Superior Court overturned his life imposed by the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas. The county district appealed the Superior Court order to the Pa Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Middle District today issued an order that reversed the Superior Court holding that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling on sentencing schemes that impose a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for juveniles in Miller vs Alabama does not apply retroactively.
To read the Pa Supreme Court order click here.