“Philly District Attorney Seth Williams Blocked Child Lifers’ Path to Freedom,” by Shakaboona.
In June 2012 the United States Supreme Court abolished mandatory life without parole sentencing schemes for child homicide offenders in Miller v. Alabama. Four years later, on January 25, 2016, the United States Supreme Court held the Miller holding must be applied retroactively to child lifer cases on collateral review in Montgomery v. Louisiana. Since the decision of Montgomery, Philly’s District Attorney Seth Williams, Philly’s Court of Common Pleas, and the Defenders Association have been in cahoots to replace the illegal life without parole sentence with the illegal resentence of 35 years to life on child homicide offenders to undermine the United States Supreme Court’s Miller mandate. However, their lawbreaking and game of charades is fast coming to an end.
On August 17, 2016, Justice Timothy J. Savage of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania released a memorandum opinion in the case of Salsa v. Beard, which stated such resentencing schemes, imposing 35 years to life imprisonment on child offenders, will violate the Supreme Court’s rulings in Miller and Montgomery. Justice Savage’s memorandum opinion laid bare Pennsylvania sentencing court’s dilemma, which is because the old and newly enacted murder sentencing statutes don’t apply to child lifers who were sentenced before June 25, 2012 and parole is unavailable, there is no statutory sentencing scheme available that applies to them. Therefore, resentencing courts’ only option may be a flat sentence imposed after conducting the constitutionally mandated sentencing hearing.
The Coalition Against Deaths by Incarceration has held several protest rallies in front of Philadelphia’s DA’s office and have personally confronted DA Seth Williams about his unethical behavior, reception, illegal resentencing of 35 to life, and drawing out child lifers’ resentencing process. It has become obvious to all that Philly’s DA, Seth Williams, has no code of ethics that he follows, for if he did, he would not be knowingly violating the law mandated by Miller by attempting to resentence child lifers to another illegal life sentence and blocking child lifers’ path to freedom. From the belly of the beast at Prison Radio, I am Shakaboona. Thank you for listening.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
