(The Center Square) – On a day of intense political finger-pointing in Harrisburg, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office Thursday asked the state Supreme Court to extend its stay on the application of a ruling concerning sentences for second-degree murder.
The court four months ago declared unconstitutional the sentencing guidelines for those serving mandatory life sentences without parole for second-degree murder. It stayed the effects of the ruling for 120 days to give the state Legislature time to reform the sentencing guidelines.
Thursday was the 119th day and no reform was completed by lawmakers.
The Democratic-led House returned to Harrisburg for an unusual and hastily scheduled late July day of voting session. The result was passage of a reform bill that riled Republicans who control the Senate and was disliked by Republican Attorney General Dave Sunday.
The action made it appear all but certain the court’s 120-day stay would expire Friday without an agreement. Republicans said the lapse could lead to hundreds of inmates convicted of felony murder to begin making requests to be set free.
Allegheny District Attorney Stephen Zappala filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to add another 120 days to the stay.
“Unfortunately, the General Assembly is still working to find a suitable compromise to resolve this issue. And while the General Assembly was able to pass a budget for the coming year, it is about to recess for the summer without agreeing on a proposal to create a new sentencing scheme,” the petition said.
He noted lawmakers are due to return to Harrisburg in September.
“For this reason, your petitioner is requesting that the court extend the current stay of its mandate for an additional 120 days,” the filing said.
Fran Chardo, the Dauphin County district attorney and past president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, said in an interview the legislative branch of government was doing its job.
“The General Assembly is working diligently on it, they just need more time,” Chardo said.
The issue, Chardo said, is complex. “You don’t want to rush these, or you are going to get bad legislation,” he said.
Meanwhile, House lawmakers were sharply divided on party lines over proposals to reform the sentencing law.
It was the only issue of substance the chamber considered on Thursday.
“We have a job to do today and the House is here, before the deadline, ready to do the job,” House Democratic Majority Leader Matt Bradford of Montgomery County said at mid-afternoon.
Moments later, the chamber led by his party voted 102-100 to pass a reform bill that had previously passed the Republican-led Senate. But that bill had, in the interim, been greatly altered by an amendment in the Democratic-led House Rules Committee.
Republicans ripped into the amendment. They called it a radical change from the language that received bipartisan support in the Senate.
“The House had a bipartisan solution sitting right in front of them,” said Republican Rep. Martina White of Philadelphia.
In the 102-100 vote, all Democrats except Rep. Frank Burns of Cambria County were in favor, and all Republicans except Rep. Tom Mehaffie of Dauphin County were opposed.
The highest-ranking House Democrat, Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia, said the Supreme Court decision gave lawmakers the chance to “address years of inequity” and “rethink reform.”
The amended bill, she said, was “grounded in justice and accountability.”
But White said it drastically changed the medical release provisions of the law in a way that would expand the circumstances in which “violent” offenders could be released. Another Republican, Rep. John Lawrence of Chester County, said it was “grievously amended” in a way that was unacceptable.
The fact that the bill was amended before final passage in the House means it must be returned to the Senate for another vote.
That chamber is not scheduled to return to Harrisburg until late September.
Republican Senate leaders, led by Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward of Westmoreland County and Majority Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County, issued a statement that blasted the House action.
They said the Senate had twice passed bills on the issue with bipartisan support.
“They chose to engage in political theater and failed to produce any feasible product to protect our communities and victims’ families,” the Republican senators said of the House action.
Sunday, the attorney general, said the language in the Democratic-supported amendment “creates a system that will likely overwhelmingly benefit murderers and sexual offenders, while sidelining victims at every turn.”
