Pennsylvania high court takes up challenge to the state's life-without-parole sentences

Pennsylvania's high court will consider whether some automatic life sentences for those convicted of murder violate constitutional protections for defendants, the justices said Friday.

The appeal being pursued by Derek Lee, convicted of a 2014 killing, argues the state's life-without-parole law violates prohibitions in the Pennsylvania and U.S. constitutions against cruel punishment.

In the order accepting the appeal, said it would focus on the constitutionality of the mandatory life sentence in Lee's case, where he argues he “did not kill or intend to kill and therefore had categorically-diminished culpability.”