DC Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo To Be Resentenced In MD Court: Reports

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Lee Boyd Malvo, who nearly two decades ago was convicted of killing several people in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., as they did everyday activities, must be resentenced, a Maryland high court has ruled.

The Maryland Court of Appeals made its decision based on guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court on sentencing juvenile offenders, The Associated Press reported.

The guidance, which came following Malvo's original sentencing, determined that juvenile offenders were protected under the Eight Amendment and could not be sentenced to life in prison without parole unless their crimes indicated "permanent incorrigibility," CNN reported. The Supreme Court also referred to it as "cruel and unusual punishment."

The guidance can be applied retroactively, meaning the legal constraint can be applied to Malvo’s case, The AP reported.

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Malvo was 17 when he and his partner, John Allen Muhammad, 41, terrorized the Beltway area in a series of shootings, killing 10 people and wounding three others as they pumped gas and loaded packages into their cars during a three-week period beginning Oct. 2, 2002.

The infamous “D.C. snipers” were apprehended 22 days later at a rest stop near Myersville, Maryland.

Maryland Shootings By The Pair

The pair shot 13 strangers, killing 10 of them, at gas stations, grocery stores and parking lots among other locations. As the manhunt drug on, The Washington Post said sporting events were canceled, tarps who put up to hide customers as they filled their cars at gas stations. After the two were caught, they were tied to at least 11 more shootings — five of which were fatal — from Washington state to Alabama.

The string of murders began when the duo shot through a window at a Michael's crafts store in Aspen Hill. Nobody was injured there, but later that day a man was fatally shot in the parking lot of Shoppers Food Warehouse in Wheaton.

Four victims were shot and killed while at gas stations in Aspen Hill, Kensington, Manassas and Fredericksburg. One victim was walking along Georgia Avenue in The District when he was gunned down.

One of the attacks was in Prince George's County, outside of Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie. The youngest victim of the sniper attacks, then 13-year-old Bowie resident Iran Brown, was shot on Oct. 7, 2002, when he arrived at the Bowie school to begin classes for the day. Though Brown's injuries required multiple surgeries, he survived the shootings to testify at Muhammad's trial.

Authorities said Muhammad and Malvo were regulars at the YMCA of Silver Spring in the weeks before the shootings. The pair was arrested Oct. 24, 2002.

Malvo was illegally brought into the United States from Antigua by Muhammad — an ex-soldier and expert rifleman — who then trained him in military tactics for almost a year.

In 2006, Malvo pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in Maryland and two counts in Virginia. He then pleaded guilty to separate counts of capital murder, attempted capital murder, and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, The AP reported.

Muhammad was sentenced to death and was executed in Virginia in 2009. Malvo, now 37, is incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia.

Virginia imposed on Malvo a total of four life sentences in prison without parole in 2004. Malvo has spent years appealing his sentences on multiple fronts.

Judge Robert McDonald wrote the Court of Appeals' majority opinion released Friday.

If Malvo is resentenced, it would only apply to his Maryland sentences. This means it's unlikely he will ever be released from prison due to his standing convictions in Virginia, the court noted last week.

"As a practical matter, this may be an academic question in Mr. Malvo’s case, as he would first have to be granted parole in Virginia before his consecutive life sentences in Maryland even begin," McDonald wrote.

Capital News Service contributed to this report.

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