D.C sniper Lee Boyd Malvo’s attorneys told the Maryland Court of Appeals this week that their client’s life sentences without the possibility of parole should be reconsidered since he was a juvenile when he committed his crimes.
Malvo’s lawyers claim his sentence should be reviewed following a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said sentencing juveniles to life without parole could violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
They also point to a new state law that permits inmates who were convicted as juveniles to seek release after having served at least 20 years.
Malvo’s legal representation has been requesting a new sentencing hearing for years.
In 2019, counsel representing him appeared before the Supreme Court, telling the justices that his sentence of life without parole now appears too harsh and he should get a second chance at a different punishment.
The case ended up being dismissed before the high court issued a ruling after a new state law in Virginia was enacted, allowing those convicted as juveniles to seek parole.
Malvo was 17 at the time of the shootings, when he and his adult partner, John Allen Muhammad, terrorized the Washington area for six months in fall 2002.
Since Malvo was sentenced before the 2012 Supreme Court case was decided — and before Virginia and Maryland changed their state laws for juvenile offenders — he wants a new punishment.
Malvo and Muhammad, who was in his 40s, committed random shootings at locations including schools, gas stations and grocery stores in the Washington area.
They killed 12 people and wounded six, all while taunting police. They had drilled a hole in the trunk of their car just above the license plate so they could fire at victims undetected, then drive off, eluding authorities and prolonging the terror for weeks.
Some residents avoided going out except when absolutely necessary, and some gas stations took to hanging tarps around the pumps to keep customers from becoming targets. Schools were placed on lockdown and on one occasion, Interstate 95 was closed.
Muhammad had brought Malvo from Jamaica to the U.S. illegally and became a father figure to the teen.
Malvo was convicted by a jury of murdering one woman, and he pleaded guilty to the murder and attempted murder of two other individuals in Virginia. He also pleaded guilty to six murders in Maryland.
He has been serving his life sentence at Red Onion State Prison in Wise County, Virginia.
Muhammad was executed for the crimes in 2009.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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