Appeals court upholds convicted child killer Aulisio's sentence

Jun. 9—The state Superior Court upheld the 60-year-to-life sentence of convicted child killer Joseph Aulisio, rejecting his argument the sentence equated to a de facto life sentence in violation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Aulisio, 55, was convicted in 1982 of two counts of first-degree murder for the shotgun slayings of 8-year-old Cheryl Ziemba and her 4-year-old brother, Christopher, inside an Old Forge home on July 26, 1981.

He was sentenced in 1987 to life without possibility of parole, but the sentence was later overturned based on a 2012 Supreme Court decision, Miller vs. Alabama, that said juveniles could only be sentenced to life without parole if they are found to be so depraved they could not be rehabilitated. Aulisio was 15 when he committed the crimes.

Lackawanna County prosecutors wanted to again seek a life sentence, but had to abandon the plans after a psychiatric expert testified Aulisio could be rehabilitated. Judge Vito Geroulo resentenced Aulisio in December 2019 to 30 years to life for each of the murders and ordered the sentences run consecutively.

Aulisio's attorneys argued the sentence violated the Supreme Court's Miller mandate because Aulisio will be 75 before he's eligible for parole, which essentially equates to a life sentence. They maintained that's illegal since an expert found Aulisio could be rehabilitated. The defense also maintained Geroulo abused his discretion by running the sentences consecutively.

In rejecting the claim, the Superior Court said Geroulo was not obligated to evaluate the case under the standard set in the Miller ruling because prosecutors did not seek life without parole.

"Where the Commonwealth does not seek a LWOP sentences, the issue of whether the court made a specific finding of an inability to be rehabilitated is moot," the court said.

The court also upheld the consecutive sentences, finding that prior courts have held that when evaluating a sentence for more than one crime, each sentence must be viewed as if it stood alone as opposed to the aggregate.

"Because our current precedential case law hold that a 30-year minimum sentence for a conviction of first-degree murder is not a defacto life sentence ... appellant's challenge to his aggregate sentence as a violation of the protections of Miller garners no relief," the court said.

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tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter.