Commonwealth v. Cunningham

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

This appeal involves a post-conviction challenge to the imposition of a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, for a murder committed by a juvenile. Specifically, we are asked to determine whether Miller v. Alabama, -U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012) — which holds that “the Eighth Amendment forbids a sentencing scheme that mandates life in prison without possibility of parole for juvenile offenders,” id. at -, 132 S.Ct. at 2469 — applies retroactively to Appellant’s 2002 judgment of sentence, which became final in 2005.

In…