Maryland Appeals Court Rules D.C. Sniper Must Be Resentenced

A Maryland appeals court ruled that D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo must be resentenced due to his juvenile status at the time of his original sentencing. 

Malvo was 17 years old when he shot and killed 10 people, injuring three more, in a series of sniper-style shootings that occurred in and around Washington D.C. in October 2002. He was sentenced to life without parole in Maryland and Virginia. 

The court used the US Supreme Court’s guidance on sentencing for juvenile defenders in Friday’s ruling. In decisions rendered after Malvo’s sentencing, the Supreme Court ruled that life without parole is not applicable to youthful offenders under the Eighth Amendment. 

Life without parole is not permitted “if a sentencing court determines that the offender’s crime was the result of transient immaturity, as opposed to permanent incorrigibility,” stated Judge Robert McDonald in the decision.

Malvo is currently serving out life without parole in the Red Onion State Prison in Virginia. McDonald wrote that Malvo would have to be granted parole in Virginia before he could begin serving his life sentences in Maryland. He is serving his sentences consecutively. 

His accomplice in the shootings, John Allen Muhammad, was executed in Virginia in 2009 for his role in the murders.