Commonwealth v. Lugo

**95 In November 2011, the victim, Kyle McManus, was murdered after a plan to rob him of marijuana failed. A jury convicted the defendant, Nathan Lugo, of murder in the second degree. The defendant, who was seventeen years old at the time of the murder, was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after fifteen years. On appeal, the defendant argues that the mandatory sentence is unconstitutional because it does not allow the judge to exercise his or her discretion to impose anything less than a life sentence with the possibility of parole. The…