The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down as unconstitutional the mandatory sentencing law for those convicted of crimes against children, in a decision that reaffirmed a ruling last year that many attorneys called a “game-changer.”
A deeply split court ruled June 20 in Commonwealth v. Wolfe to affirm a ruling from the Superior Court that had said the 10-year mandatory sentence for those convicted of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person younger than 16 was unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Alleyne v. United States.
