Maryland Court Of Appeals Takes Up Case Of Convicted DC Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP/WJZ) -- Maryland's Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, is set to hear the case of convicted "D.C. sniper" Lee Boyd Malvo.
Malvo was 17 when he and his mentor, John Allen Muhammad, killed 10 people in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC, in 2002.
For the Maryland killings, Malvo was handed six life sentences without the possibility of parole. His lawyers argue the sentence violates the Eighth Amendment and goes against the 2012 Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama, which barred mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders.
The case also questions whether the Supreme Court ruling applies to Maryland's Juvenile Restoration Act, an act passed this year that ends life sentences without parole for juveniles. Oral arguments are set to begin in January.
The Virginia Appeals Court heard his case in 2018, but a change in Virginia state law made him eligible for parole, so Malvo withdrew.
Muhammad was executed at a Virginia prison in 2009.
