in_the_media
Juvenile lifer followed court cases in hopes of freedom
Posted Apr 6, 2013
Media Outlet:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sharon Wiggins was the longest-serving female juvenile lifer in Pennsylvania, sentenced to life without parole for first-degree murder committed at age 17. Last summer, when the U.S. Supreme Court made mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles unconstitutional, she finally had a glimmer of hope, but she didn’t make it. Wiggins died March 24 of a heart attack. "This has a real cost," said Sara Jacobson, a law professor at Temple, who worked on Wiggins' case. "The delay matters. She's not the only one we may lose along the way."