DC Sniper Malvo Fails At Reducing Prison Sentences

ROCKVILLE, MD — Convicted DC Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, who is serving time at a supermax prison in Virginia, will continue to serve a life sentence for a series of ten fatal shootings around the Washington, D.C., area, a judge has ruled. Malvo, now 32, was 17 years old when he was arrested for six shootings in Montgomery County and four in Virginia. His public defender, James Johnston, argued unsuccessfully that Malvo should qualify for a shorter prison term since he was subjected to mandatory life sentences in 2002, ten years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the punishment unconstitutional for juveniles in 2012.

The court determined life sentences should be applied retroactively last year. Johnston and Malvo argued a similar case in Norfolk, Virginia, and the federal judge ordered new sentencing hearings on two of Malvo's life sentences there. The ruling doesn't vacate the convictions against Malvo in a terrifying string of shootings 15 years ago, and it doesn't affect six life sentences he also must serve for deaths in Maryland.

Over 21 days in October 2002, Malvo and his partner John Allen Muhammad shot 13 strangers, killing 10 of them, in the Washington, DC, area, including in gas stations and parking lots. Virginia executed Muhammad in 2009.

"The six consecutive life-without-parole sentences were imposed after a full consideration of Defendant's physical, mental and emotional state," Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg wrote in his ruling released Wednesday, FOX DC reports.

Greenberg wrote that he "considered all relevant factors at play and the plain import of his words at the time was that Defendant is 'irreparably corrupted.'"

During the string of shootings, The Washington Post says sporting events were canceled and tarps were put up to hide customers as they filled their cars at gas stations. After Malvo and Muhaad were caught, they were tied to at least 11 more shootings — five of which were fatal — from Washington state to Alabama.

Muhammad was executed by lethal injection in November 2009. Malvo was convicted of six murders in Montgomery County and is serving a life sentence without parole.

In April, Malvo's attorney argued in Montgomery County court that the killer's punishment is unconstitutional. Montgomery County prosecutor John McCarthy says Malvo’s life sentences in Maryland were not mandatory. “Under the plea agreement, the court had the discretion to impose any sentence authorized by the first-degree murder statute,” including parole, McCarthy wrote in court documents.

Accused sniper John Lee Malvo walks out of the Fairfax County Juvenile Court House after appearing with his attorneys November, 19, 2002 in Fairfax, Virginia. (Mark Wilson/File Photo/Getty Images)