Court to weigh D.C. sniper sentence
Appeal’s goal: Scuttling Malvo’s no-parole terms
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider Virginia’s plea to reinstate the life-without-parole sentence of a man who as a teenager participated in sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in
2002.
The justices said they will take up the state’s appeal in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad fatally shot 10 people in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. Malvo was sentenced to life-without-parole terms in Virginia and in Maryland.
Muhammad, who was 41 at the time of the shootings, was sentenced to death and was executed in 2009.
Malvo was sentenced to four life terms for crimes he committed in Virginia.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled last year that while Malvo’s life-without-parole sentences were legal when they were imposed, Supreme Court decisions that followed altered sentencing requirements for juvenile offenders.
The appeals court judges said a resentencing would determine whether Malvo qualifies as “one of the rare juvenile offenders” who can be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole because his “crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility.” They said if his crimes instead “reflect the transient immaturity of youth,” he is entitled to a sentence short of life without parole.
The Supreme Court will review that decision.
As is typical, the justices did not make any comment in agreeing to hear the case, which will be argued in the fall.
In other actions Monday, the Supreme Court:
Left in place Hawaii court rulings that found a bed and breakfast owner violated the state’s anti-discrimination law by refusing to rent a room to a lesbian couple. The justices rejected an appeal from Aloha Bed & Breakfast owner Phyllis Young, who argued that she should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of her religious beliefs.
Declined to intervene Monday in a fight over control of the nation’s oldest synagogue and its religious bells worth millions, leaving in place a ruling that the Rhode Island synagogue will remain the property of a New York congregation.
Agreed to take up a case that could make it more difficult for states to prosecute identity theft and other crimes. The high court agreed Monday to take a case out of Kansas that involves the state’s prosecution of people who were using others’ Social Security numbers on employment and other forms.
Said it will consider overturning a criminal conviction by a 10-2 jury vote in Louisiana. The justices acted Monday, four months after Louisiana voters amended the state constitution to prohibit non-unanimous verdicts in criminal cases. Oregon is the only state that still allows them.
Rejected a new appeal from a Georgia death row inmate, despite evidence that a juror in his capital case used racial slurs. The high court had previously blocked the execution of Georgia inmate Keith Leroy Tharpe. But the justices on Monday refused to take up his case after a lower court ruled against him. The 59-year-old Tharpe was convicted of killing his sister in law.