Com. v. Bacon, G., 568 WDA 2016

Gregory Bacon was convicted by jury of first-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm for crimes committed at age 24; sentenced to mandatory life without parole on January 30, 2008.
Direct appeal affirmed; Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied allowance of appeal in 2009.
Bacon filed a first PCRA petition in 2009; counsel filed a no-merit letter, the petition was dismissed, and the dismissal was affirmed on appeal.
Bacon filed a second PCRA petition pro se on February 1, 2016, asserting Miller v. Alabama rendered his mandatory life sentence unconstitutional; the PCRA court issued Rule 907 notice and dismissed the petition on April 5, 2016.
Bacon appealed pro se; the Superior Court reviewed timeliness and retroactivity issues raised by Miller and Montgomery but affirmed dismissal because Bacon was 24 at the time of the offense and Miller protects only juvenile offenders.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Bacon’s mandatory life-without-parole sentence is invalid under Miller v. Alabama	Bacon: Miller prohibits mandatory LWOP and is retroactive under Montgomery, so he is entitled to resentencing	Commonwealth: Even if Miller is retroactive, Miller applies only to offenders who were under 18 at the time of the offense	Held: Denied — Miller applies only to juvenile offenders; Bacon was 24 when offenses occurred so no relief

Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012) (mandatory life without parole for offenders under 18 is unconstitutional)
Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (2016) (Miller announced a substantive rule that is retroactive)
Commonwealth v. Copenhefer, 941 A.2d 646 (Pa. 2007) (PCRA one-year timing rule and exceptions)
Commonwealth v. Secreti, 134 A.3d 77 (Pa. Super. 2016) (applied Montgomery to make Miller retroactive as of Miller’s date)