Justices’ DC sniper case examines teen murderers’ sentences
WASHINGTON (AP) — As a teenager, Lee Boyd Malvo terrorized the Washington region in 2002 as one-half of a sniper team. Now he’s at the center of a case the Supreme Court will hear this fall.
But the justices’ eventual ruling probably will mean less for him than for a dozen other inmates also sentenced to life without parole for murders they committed as teens.
At issue is whether Malvo should be resentenced in Virginia in light of rulings restricting life-without-parole sentences for crimes by juveniles.
The case could also be an opportunity for the Supreme Court, which has recently become more conservative , to put the brakes on what has been a gradual move toward more leniency for juvenile offenders .
Regardless of the case’s outcome, the 34-year-old Malvo isn’t leaving prison anytime soon.