Seventeen Bucks County inmates convicted of second-degree murder now have no clear sentencing framework after the Pennsylvania legislature missed a court-ordered deadline on Friday, leaving those inmates free to petition courts individually for resentencing.
The state Supreme Court ruled in March 2026 in Commonwealth v. Lee that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for second-degree murder are unconstitutional. The court gave lawmakers 120 days to write new sentencing guidelines. That clock ran out Friday with the House and Senate deadlocked.
What happened in Harrisburg
House Democrats and one Republican from Dauphin County voted 102-100 on Friday to pass a revised version of House Bill 1042 after returning from summer recess. The bill set a 30-year minimum sentence for most of the roughly 1,100 inmates already serving life statewide, but did not establish minimum or maximum guidelines for future cases.
The Republican-controlled Senate refused to reconvene. Senators objected to the lack of future sentencing standards, a provision the Senate's own version, passed in a bipartisan 30-20 vote on July 12, had included with a 35-year minimum.
Neither chamber's bill passed in the other.
Local lawmakers react
State Sen. Frank Farry, R-6, of Langhorne, blamed House Democrats for running out the clock. "They did stuff so they could say they did stuff," Farry told the Bucks County Herald on Friday. "They didn't want a legislative solution. They essentially blew it up."
Farry said any law passed after the deadline will apply only to future cases. The roughly 1,100 current inmates, including the 17 in Bucks County, can now petition courts for resentencing without legislative guardrails in place. Victims' families may be called back to court for those hearings.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10, of Lower Makefield, countered that Senate Republicans never engaged in compromise talks. He said Senate Democrats offered to negotiate when the bill was in committee last month but received no response.
State Rep. Tim Brennan, D-29, of Doylestown, said before the deadline that he had been in bipartisan communication with district attorneys and the Attorney General's office, and expressed willingness to hold a special session if needed.
AG calls House bill 'grossly inadequate'
Pennsylvania Attorney General David Sunday sent a letter to House members calling the revised bill "grossly inadequate," saying it would allow murderers to "shop for early release." Sunday said the bill's lack of a maximum sentence was "rather unprecedented."
Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan signed onto a Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association statement supporting clear sentencing guidelines before the deadline. The Bucks County Police Chiefs' Association also backed the Senate's proposal, according to Farry.
What it means locally
Among the 17 Bucks County inmates affected is Jermaine M. Jackson, then of Trenton, who is serving life for the 2011 armed robbery in Levittown that killed Danny DeGennaro, a local musician. Members of the DeGennaro family attended a press conference at Farry's Langhorne office on Wednesday.
Gia DeGennaro, Danny's daughter, urged lawmakers to spare families further proceedings, saying it is "not fair that victims' families who have already lost so much now face new uncertainty."
State Rep. Joe Hogan, R-142, of Middletown Township, warned that some inmates seeking resentencing could, in his view, become eligible for immediate release, calling that prospect "unconscionable."
What comes next
No date has been set for a new vote or special session on second-degree murder sentencing. The legislature is scheduled to return from summer recess in September.
