The Supreme Court will consider whether Lee Boyd Malvo, the teenage half of the snipers who terrorized the Washington, D.C., region 16 years ago, may challenge his sentence of life in prison without parole, the Washington Post reports. Malvo, 34, was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad committed what Virginia officials called “one of the most notorious strings of terrorist acts in modern American history.” Between Sept. 5 and Oct. 22, 2002, the two killed 10 people and wounded others in sniper attacks in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Muhammad was executed in 2009, but Malvo received sentences of life without parole in Virginia and Maryland.
The Supreme Court’s action Monday involves the Virginia sentences and will be heard in the term that starts in October. After a 2003 trial in which Malvo was convicted of shooting FBI analyst Linda Franklin, a jury decided against the death penalty. It recommended life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Since then, the Supreme Court said that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole were unconstitutional for those under 18. A divided court found that sentencing a child to life without parole is excessive for all but “the rare juvenile offender whose crime reflects irreparable corruption.” In sentencing defendants 17 and younger, judges must consider whether a juvenile’s crime reflects “irreparable corruption” or simply “the transient immaturity of youth.” Some courts have interpreted the rulings to mean that mandatory life without parole laws are unconstitutional, but that those that offer a judge discretion are not. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said it was clear Malvo deserved a new sentencing.