District Attorney John Morganelli said the Pennsylvania Bar Association shouldn't be involved in the appeal of Qu'eed Batts.
Northampton County's district attorney blasted the Pennsylvania Bar Association on Tuesday for supporting a young killer's attempt to have his life sentence overthrown.
Qu'eed Batts, of Phillipsburg, was sentenced to life without parole for the 2006 murder of Clarence "C.J." Edwards in Easton.
His sentence was thrown out because he was only 14 at the time of the murder, but the sentence was later re-instated by a Northampton County judge who felt the crime merited the time.
Life sentence for then-14-year-old murderer upheld
But Batts won a new appeal in April on the same grounds due to a precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court case.
Morganelli fired off an angry letter Tuesday at the Pennsylvania Bar Association for filing a legal brief in the case in favor of resentencing Batts.
He wrote that the "PBA has now become an advocate for a criminal defendant who murdered a person in cold blood as initiation for gang membership."
State bar association member Thomas G. Wilkinson Jr. said his association's position focuses on the constitutionality of the issue. He said the association has a stake in the constitutional application of the law, as the state has more juveniles sentenced to life in prison than any other state.
"The PBA does not view the legal issue presented as a 'political' matter, but rather an important question arising under the U.S. Constitution where the state Supreme Court is bound to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation," Wilkinson wrote in an email, later adding, "The association did not assert or suggest that Mr. Batts or any other juvenile who was convicted and sentenced for a serious crime should not serve an appropriate amount of time in incarceration."
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court found that life without parole shouldn't be imposed on minors as a common practice. The court will consider on the appeal whether Morganelli should have to prove this is an "uncommon" case warranting life without parole.
The court will also consider whether Batts should have the same due process rights as an adult death penalty defendant. Prosecutors have a higher burden to prove the death penalty is warranted than just proving the defendant committed murder.
The Pennsylvania Bar Association filed an "amicus," or friend of the court brief to join the case. Filing similar briefs were the state district attorneys association, the Children's Advocacy Network and Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project and the state criminal defense lawyers association.
Morganelli wrote that the state bar association should address issues most lawyers can agree on, such as finding a good deal on malpractice insurance.
He said he won't join the organization and won't pay dues of his staff members.
The "PBA is a very liberal, left-leaning organization that turns off thousands and thousands of lawyers when it involves itself in political issues pressing forward a liberal agenda under the falsity that it is most representative of lawyers in the state," Morganelli wrote.
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.