Marie Scott, 71, incarcerated more than a half-century for murder, has her life sentence commuted by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro

Rodrigo Torrejón, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 16, 2025

Published in News & Features

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PHILADELPHIA — Marie Scott, 71, who has spent more than half a century in prison for murder after she and her then-boyfriend robbed a gas station store and he killed the cashier, will be eligible for parole after Gov. Josh Shapiro approved the commutation of her life sentence.

Last month, Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons voted unanimously to recommend that Scott’s life sentence be reduced to time served. The decision had been awaiting approval from Shapiro.

Shapiro, who has long called the mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for a first-degree murder unjust and unconstitutional, approved the commutation Friday, said Manuel Bonder, Shapiro’s press secretary.

Shapiro’s office declined to comment further on his decision.

Pennsylvania is one of only two states in the nation where a felony murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.

As a provision for the commutation, Scott will serve at least six more months behind bars as a penalty for the three times she escaped from prison decades ago before she is eligible for parole, Bonder said.

When Scott learned that her sentence was commuted, she cried out with happiness, said Rupalee Rashatwar, one of her attorneys at the Abolitionist Law Center.

“She thanked God and she was screaming and hollering with joy when she found out the news,” Rashatwar said.

For years, Scott’s attorneys have pushed for her sentence to be commuted, citing her diagnosis of stage 2 breast cancer and saying she has exhibited model behavior while incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, acting as a mentor to others behind bars.

Scott had taken responsibility for her crimes, Rashatwar said, and the commutation was testament to the support from those who lobbied for her sentence to be reduced.

“We see this as a huge win, because for the first time in more than 50 years, she does not have a life sentence hanging over her head,” Rashatwar said.

Scott has been incarcerated since 1973, after she and then-boyfriend Leroy Saxton robbed a Germantown gas station. Scott, who is known as “Mechie,” helped Saxton, who was 16 at the time, restrain the gas station cashier, Michael Kerrigan, and then loot the store’s cash register and safe.

Scott, her attorneys have said, was merely acting as a lookout when Saxton shot Kerrigan, 35, in the back of the head.

The two were later arrested, and Saxton was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Scott was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to the same term.

But Saxton was released on time served in 2020, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned mandatory life sentences for juveniles.

After Saxton’s release, two of Kerrigan’s daughters initially supported Scott’s release, but later changed their minds, and sent and read letters to the pardons board pushing for Scott to remain incarcerated.

The decision to commute Scott’s life sentence was not justice, Angela Kerrigan, one of Michael Kerrigan’s granddaughters, said Monday morning.

Scott did not take full accountability for Kerrigan’s murder, she said, nor has she truly expressed remorse.

“I don’t want to say she can’t be rehabilitated,” Angela Kerrigan said. “I just don’t think she is sorry for her crimes.”

Angela Kerrigan said she plans to attend Scott’s parole hearing and push the board to keep her in prison. More than 50 years later, her family still feels pain thinking of all that Kerrigan, an off-duty Philadelphia firefighter, missed out on, she said.

“He should have been able to see us all grow up,” she said. “See all his girls get married. Walk us down the aisle. See his grandchildren, his great grandchildren.

“He was killed while I was so young,” she added. “But he loved me and I loved him.”

Scott’s lawyer, Rashatwar, said she hopes the parole board considers Scott’s age, her having served more than 50 years in prison, and her years as a mentor and guide to many of the people incarcerated at Muncy.

Were she to be released, Scott, she said, plans to live with her only daughter, Hope Segers, who told the pardons board that she would be with her mother every step of the transition process.