LANCASTER CITY, LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa.– An inmate will receive no sentence relief on his two life terms, a Pennsylvania appeals court ruled this week.
Marlon Hurdle, 44, ambushed two men in a vehicle and fatally shot them at Green and Palm Streets in Lancaster City in Decemeber 1993.
Hurdle, in his request for relief, asked to be treated like a juvenile in accordance with a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found mandatory life sentences for juveniles “unconstitutional.”
This week, the Pennsylvania Superior Court denied that request, meaning Hurdle will not be re-sentenced.
During the attack, Hurdle, a drug dealer, and a co-defendant, ambushed Clarence Dixon and Jeffrey Mitchell as they drove into the area to purchase drugs. The pair was shot at close range while inside their vehicle and a third unknown person was able to escape the scene uninjured.
Hurdle proceeded to fly to New York where he was arrested during a traffic stop.
In 1995, a local jury convicted Hurdle of two counts of first-degree murder for shooting Dixon and Mitchell. While the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a sentence, the judge ordered consecutive life terms.