Defense challenges 2nd Pa. juvenile life term
A defense attorney says a judge was wrong to impose a life term for the second time on a Pennsylvania inmate who was a 14-year-old gang member when he shot and killed another teenager.Twenty-two-year-old Qu’eed Batts was sentenced Friday in Northampton County Court to life in prison without parole. A new sentencing hearing was ordered after the U.S. Supreme Court banned mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles.
Batts was convicted in the 2006 shooting death of 16-year-old Clarence Edwards and the wounding of another teenager in Easton.
The Easton Express-Times reports that defense attorney Phil Lauer argued Monday that the new sentence is illegal and unconstitutional, and his client should be resentenced to no more than 20 to 40 years in prison.
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