Erie 'juvenile lifer' to be sentenced again for 1992 murder of 5-year-old neighbor

Scott A. Schroat, one of Erie's most infamous "juvenile lifers," is on his way to being sentenced a third time for the 1992 slaying of his 5-year-old neighbor, Lila Ebright.

An Erie County judge has tentatively scheduled a resentencing hearing for Schroat for Aug. 1. The date could change, but Judge John J. Mead's scheduling order, filed May 26, shows the Schroat case has restarted.

The case was upended on March 15, when a three-judge panel of the state Superior Court set aside the sentence of life without parole that Mead ordered for Schroat in October 2019. Schroat has remained in prison during the appeals process.

Schroat, 47, was 17 when he was charged in 1992. He was originally sentenced to a mandatory term of life without parole in December 1992, a month after he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the April 1992 strangulation and stabbing death of Lila.

Sentenced overturned:Life sentence set aside for Erie 'juvenile lifer' who murdered 5-year-old Lila Ebright

Erie County Judge Shad Connelly imposed the 1992 sentence. It stayed untouched until the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 started to changed the law for juvenile lifers — defendants sentenced to mandatory life terms for murders committed when they were younger than 18.

The Supreme Court in 2012 ruled mandatory life sentences for juveniles is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The court said defendants can still receive sentences of life with no parole for crimes they committed as juveniles, but that such sentences cannot be mandatory and must be rare.

The Supreme Court in 2016 made the 2012 ruling retroactive, which reopened hundreds of juvenile lifer cases nationwide, including Schroat's.

The 2016 ruling made Schroat eligible for a resentencing hearing. Mead held the hearing on Aug. 1, 2019 — coincidentally, the same date, plus three years, of the newly scheduled resentencing hearing.

Opinion:Our view: Erie killers get retroactive shot at freedom

Mead at the hearing in August 2019 listened to evidence on whether to resentence Schroat to life without parole, as the Erie County District Attorney's Office wanted, or to a lesser sentence, as Schroat's lawyer, Emily Merski, said was appropriate.

In resentencing Schroat to life without parole, Mead said in a written opinion issued in October 2019 that Schroat "does not have the capacity for change.”

"Obviously there is something terribly wrong with a 17-year-old who brutally kills a 5-year-old girl who considered him her 'big brother,'" Mead said in the opinion.

Judge's decision:Erie child killer resentenced to life in prison

In overturning Mead's ruling in March, the Superior Court panel said in a precedent-setting decision that Mead, in finding Schroat "permanently incorrigible," failed to give enough consideration to mitigating factors the defense presented in arguing for a sentence of less than life without parole for Schroat.

The Superior Court said Mead's written opinion in the case "reflects a lack of consideration for Appellant's youth, history and rehabilitative needs in favor of an inordinate focus on the heinous acts he committed as a minor."

Following the new resentencing hearing, Mead would be expected to write another opinion to explain whatever sentence he decides to give Schroat. The law allows Mead to sentence Schroat again to life without parole as long as the judge duly considers all the factors the courts have said must come into play in revisiting sentences of life without parole for juvenile offenders.

At the resentencing hearing, the defense and prosecution could present new evidence or reiterate the evidence they presented at the first resentencing hearing. Schroat testified at that hearing, saying he is "a different person," but he also contended that Lila's death was an accident despite the evidence otherwise.

First resentencing hearing:DA, defense spar over killer's resentencing

District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz, who is handling the Schroat case, declined to comment on the prosecution's strategy at the new resentencing hearing.

Merski, Schroat's lawyer, said, "We continue to understand that this is a very stressful and emotional time for the family of Lila Ebright. However, we will be prepared as possible for the resentencing and will handle it in the most respectful way as possible, keeping in mind the loss of life and Scott Schroat's right to a resentencing under the law."

Schroat has been incarcerated for about 30 years. He is at the state prison at Rockview, near State College.

Schroat is one of nine juvenile lifers in Erie County who received mandatory sentences of life in prison with no parole for murders committed before they turned 18.

All of the juvenile lifers were convicted of either first- or second-degree murder, which still carry mandatory life sentences for adult defendants in Pennsylvania. All nine, including Schroat, were resentenced.

Final case:Erie's last 'juvenile lifer' is made eligible for parole in 1976 killing, when he was 17

Of the nine, only one other juvenile lifer received a new sentence of life with no parole. The seven other juvenile lifers in Erie County got new sentences that made them eligible for parole. In most cases, it will be more than a decade before that happens, though some of the defendants have already been paroled.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie "juvenile lifer": Killer of 5-year-old girl to be sentenced again