Automatic life-without-parole sentences for juveniles ruled unconstitutional

Pa. courts scramble to catch up to juvenile-lifers decision

Recently, Earl Rice Jr., an inmate at Graterford Prison, got unexpected news from a relative: A judge had unceremoniously changed his sentence from life without parole to life with parole. Chester County Court Judge James MacElree later explained: “That’s what the Supreme Court of the United States said I had to do.