Commonwealth v. King

Ivory King was initially sentenced to life without parole for offenses he committed as a youth. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana, Mr. King was resentenced to four 20-to-life sentences (an aggregate of 80 years to life), which amounts to a de facto life without parole sentence. 

Juvenile Law Center and the Defender Association of Philadelphia filed an amicus brief in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in support of Mr. King, arguing that his de facto life sentence is both unconstitutionally disproportionate under the Eighth Amendment and unconstitutionally cruel under the Pennsylvania Constitution. We further urged the Court to reinstate the procedural protections previously set forth by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Batts.

Legal Team

Attorneys

Tiara Greene, Marsha Levick

Paralegals 

Tiffany Faith, Marissa Lariviere