Is a Life Sentence for 'Felony Murder' Unconstitutional?

Felony murder — a murder charge based on a defendant’s participation in a serious crime, such as a robbery, during which a person dies — has long attracted criticism for failing to take into account whether a defendant had an intent to kill. In one example detailed last year in the New Yorker, a man faced a mandatory life in prison sentence after his accomplice in a series of car burglaries fled the police and accidentally struck and killed two cyclists. The fact that the defendant was miles away and sitting in handcuffs at the time the car accident took place didn’t impact either the felony murder charge or the sentence.

Until now, states have largely had free rein under the Eighth Amendment to impose draconian prison sentences for felony murder. But a series of state cases are now raising the question of whether state constitutions might provide further protection. 

As detailed in a new piece by State Court Report’s Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot and University of Michigan law student Anna Benham, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments last week in Commonwealth v. Lee, a challenge to mandatory life sentences for felony murder. (As part of an exciting new partnership, this piece is also cross-posted in Slate.) Derek Lee, who was upstairs during a house robbery when his codefendant killed a man in a struggle over a gun, argues that his lack of intent to kill diminishes his culpability. A mandatory life sentence based on his participation in the robbery, he contends, violates a state constitutional prohibition against “cruel punishments.”

While I know well enough not to make predictions based on an oral argument, Wolfkot and Benham report that several justices appeared open to the claim that a life sentence in a case like Lee’s violates the state constitution. It’s an uphill climb: To date, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has interpreted the state constitution’s prohibition against cruel punishments in lockstep with the Eighth Amendment. But among other things, Lee points to historical evidence that the framers of the Pennsylvania Constitution were animated by Enlightenment-era philosophies that viewed as cruel any punishment not focused on either deterrence or rehabilitation. This history warrants, he argues, a different approach than the federal courts have taken. 

The Michigan high court is considering a similar case involving a now-elderly man serving a life sentence based on a 1976 robbery in which a co-conspirator killed a store owner. Unlike Pennsylvania, Michigan has already interpreted its state constitution as more protective than the Eighth Amendment in other contexts — part of a broader trend — though not yet in the context of felony murder.

But before we get too sanguine about the role that state constitutions might play in limiting prison sentences, consider that the Colorado Supreme Court recently rejected a similar challenge to a felony murder life sentence. In 2021, the Colorado legislature eliminated life sentences for felony murder, but only prospectively. A man who was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison for participating in a robbery in which an accomplice shot and killed someone then challenged his sentence under both the U.S. and Colorado Constitutions. 

In rejecting the claim, the Colorado Supreme Court focused its analysis on the Eighth Amendment. Notably, the court didn’t do an independent state constitutional analysis but rather treated the state and federal claims as coextensive. It’s an important reminder that notwithstanding the increased attention on state constitutions, in most states and on most issues, lockstepping state constitutional claims with the U.S. Constitution is still the order of the day. 

I’ll finish with a shameless plug: If you are interested in the role that state constitutions play in criminal punishment, we have an event for you. State Court Report and the Brennan Center, along with the State Law Research Initiative, are thrilled to be cosponsoring a symposium on State Constitutions and the Limits of Criminal Punishments at Rutger Law School in Camden, NJ, on October 24. Remote attendance is available, and you can register here. We hope to see you then!

Alicia Bannon is editor in chief for State Court Report. She is also director of the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Suggested Citation: Alicia Bannon, Is a Life Sentence for 'Felony Murder’ Unconstitutional?, Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Cᴏᴜʀᴛ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ(Oct. 18, 2024), https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/life-sentence-felony-murder-unconstitutional