Defense for D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo asks Maryland court to overturn life sentences

Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Maryland's highest appellate court is deciding whether to overturn multiple life sentences for Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the D.C. snipers who killed 10 people in a series of killings 20 years ago, because he was a juvenile at the time.

Attorneys argued the case for Malvo on Tuesday before the Maryland Court of Appeals, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling a decade ago that barred mandatory life sentences for juveniles.

Malvo's attorneys also cited a new Maryland law that makes inmates who were convicted as juveniles eligible for release once they have served at least 20 years in prison. Malvo, who was 17 in 2002 when he committed the sniper killings with John Allen Muhammad, has already surpassed that threshold. He's now 36.

Malvo and Muhammad, who was executed in 2009, committed the killings in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland for a few weeks in October 2002. They shot people from the trunk of their Blue Chevrolet Caprice, which had a small opening that offered a line of sight to their victims.

John Allen Muhammad was executed at a Virginia prison in 2009 for his role in the killings. Photo courtesy Pierce County Sheriff's Office/UPI

Public defender Kiran Iyer told the appellate court that the judge at Malvo's trial did not adequately consider his youth during the attacks.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory life sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- and last year Maryland's General Assembly abolished mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles.

An attorney for the state argued at Tuesday's hearing that because Malvo is presently in a Virginia prison, he would first have to win parole in that state before Maryland could take any action regarding his release.

Malvo is serving four life sentences without parole in Virginia and would face six life terms in Maryland if he were released.