Convicted murderer Todd Hyung-Rae Tarselli, who previously won a re-sentencing hearing due to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring mandatory life in prison for juveniles, must be re-sentenced once more on additional robbery and weapons charges, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled Tuesday.

Tarselli has been behind bars for decades for murdering his 17-year-old friend Mark Bunchalk during a robbery of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Hazleton in 1992.

Prosecutors have portrayed the shooting as an execution-style slaying in which Tarselli shot his friend nine times.

He was convicted of first-degree murder as well as robbery and possessing an offensive weapon. Prosecutors contended Tarselli was 18 at the time of the crime, and he was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Then in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that held juveniles cannot face mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole.

Tarselli appealed on grounds that his sentence was illegal because he is a Korean immigrant and a cultural difference between the way Korea and the U.S. calculate age meant Tarselli was actually 17 at the time of the offense.

In July 2021, the Pennsylvania Superior Court determined Tarselli deserved to be re-sentenced because he was “more likely than not” a juvenile at the time of the crime.

Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough re-sentenced Tarselli in August 2023 to 52½ years to life in prison, giving him hope of one day making parole.

Tarselli, who is now 51 under his presumptive birthday, appealed once more, arguing his new sentence “amounts to a de facto life term that is manifestly excessive and violates” the Supreme Court ruling.

In a decision handed down Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the Superior Court agreed that in addition to being re-sentenced for murder, Tarselli should have also have been re-sentenced on the robbery and weapons charges.

The judges noted that the additional 10-20 years for robbery and 2½-five years for possessing an offensive weapon had no impact on Tarselli’s life sentence, but now that he could one day make parole those consecutive sentences “clearly” change “the overall sentencing scheme in this case.”

As as result, the court vacated all of Tarselli’s sentences and remanded the case to trial court for another re-sentencing hearing.

That hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Tarselli remains incarcerated at State Correctional Institution at Forest.