IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
EASTERN DISTRICT
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : No. 537 EAL 2015
:
Respondent :
: Petition for Allowance of Appeal from
: the Unpublished Memorandum and
v. : Order of the Superior Court at No. 3176
: EDA 2014 exited August 31, 2015,
: affirming the Order of the Philadelphia
KYLE J. WILLIAMS, : County Court of Common Pleas at No.
: CP-51-CR-0401451-2005 exited
Petitioner : October 31, 2014
ORDER
PER CURIAM
AND NOW, this 1st day of March, 2016, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is
GRANTED on a limited basis, solely pertaining to the issue of whether Petitioner’s
sentence violates the prohibition against mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders
announced by the Supreme Court of the United States in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S.
___, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012). As a result of the recent holding by that Court that Miller
must be applied retroactively by the States, see Montgomery v. Louisiana, 2016 WL
280758 (U.S. Jan. 25, 2016), the Superior Court’s order is VACATED, and the case is
REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with Montgomery. Allocatur is DENIED
in all other respects.
To the extent necessary, leave is to be granted to amend the post-conviction
petition to assert the jurisdictional provision of the Post Conviction Relief Act extending
to the recognition of constitutional rights by the Supreme Court of the United States
which it deems to be retroactive. See 42 Pa.C.S. §9545(b)(1)(iii).
Justice Eakin did not participate in the consideration or decision of this matter.