Commonwealth v. Batts

*288 OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

This case concerns the appropriate remedy, on direct appeal, for the constitutional violation occurring when a mandatory life-without-parole sentence has been imposed on a defendant convicted of first-degree murder, who was under the age of eighteen at the time of his offense.

On February 7, 2006, Appellant, then fourteen years old, walked up the front porch steps of a house, shot Clarence Edwards in the head, and shot Corey Hilario in the back as the man attempted to flee. Mr. Edwards died on the way to the hospital while Mr. Hilario sustained serious bodily injury but…