D.C. sniper’s life sentence challenged

Lawyer claims termis unconstitutional and should be thrown out

ROCKVILLE, Md. — An attorney for a man convicted as a teenager of taking part in deadly sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington area argued before a Maryland judge Thursday that his young client’s life sentence is unconstitutional and should be thrown out. But prosecutors maintained that a Supreme Court decision deeming mandatory life without parole for juveniles unconstitutional does not apply in this case because in Maryland, judges aren’t required to impose such sentences, but may do so at their own discretion.

Lee Malvo was convicted in Maryland and Virginia when he was 17 for his role in the 2002 shootings that killed 10 people and wounded three in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. He later acknowledged shooting people in other states, as well. Malvo, 32, is serving his sentence at Red Onion State Prison in southwest Virginia.

His lawyer, James John- ston, argued during the hour and a half hearing on Thursday that Malvo’s sentence should be tossed because the Supreme Court’s decision determined that juveniles shouldn’t be sent to prison for life without the possibility of parole except in rare circumstances in which a judge deems that they are “irreparably cor- rupt.” That didn’t happen in Malvo’s case, Johnston said.

“It’s not enough to look at the record and say we can imagine how a sentencing judge came to this conclusion,” Johnston said, “because the law didn’t exist then.”

Malvo was not present in court.