South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Maryland court rules DC-area sniper Malvo must be resentenced
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s highest court has ruled that Washington, D.C.-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo must be resentenced because of U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to constitutional protections for juveniles made after Malvo was sentenced to six life sentences without the possibility of parole
In its 4-3 ruling, however, the Maryland Court of Appeals said it ’s very unlikely Malvo would ever be released from custody, because he is also serving separate life sentences for murders in Virginia.
Judge Robert McDonald, in the majority opinion released Friday, wrote that it’s ultimately not up to the Court of Appeals to decide the appropriate sentence for Malvo, or whether he should ever be released from his Maryland sentences.
“We hold only that the Eighth Amendment requires that he receive a new sentencing hearing at which the sentencing court, now cognizant of the principles elucidated by the Supreme Court, is able to consider whether or not he is constitutionally eligible for life without parole under those decisions,” McDonald wrote.
Ma l vo, 3 7, is now confined at the Red Onion State Prison in southwest Virginia.
Malvo and his mentor, John Allen Muhammad, shot people in Virginia, Maryland and Washington as they pumped gas, loaded packages into their cars and went about their everyday business during a threeweek period in 2002. Malvo was 17 at the time; Muhammad was 41.
Muhammad was sentenced to death, and was executed in Virginia in 2009.
In Maryland, Malvo voluntarily testified against Muhammad. In 2006, Malvo pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in Montgomery County in the suburbs of the nation’s capital.
Libya clashes: Deadly clashes broke out Saturday in Libya’s capital between militias backed by its two rival administrations, portending a return to violence amid a long political stalemate.
At least 23 civilians were killed and over 140 wounded, the Health Ministry said. It added that 64 families were evacuated from areas around the fighting.
The escalation threatens to shatter the relative calm Libya has enjoyed for most of the past two years. The oil-rich nation plunged into chaos following a NATObacked uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
Among the fatalities was Mustafa Baraka, a comedian known for his social media videos mocking militias and corruption.
The municipal council of Tripoli blamed the ruling political class for the deteriorating situation in the capital, and urged the international community to “protect civilians in Libya.”
The U.N. mission in Libya said the fighting involved “indiscriminate medium and heavy shelling in civilian-populated neighborhoods” of Tripoli.
Sea life treaty: Diplomats from around the world have failed to reach agreement on a United Nations treaty designed to protect marine life on the high seas, after a fifth round of talks ended in impasse.
Negotiations at U.N. headquarters in New York were suspended early Saturday following two weeks of talks that environmentalists had hoped would close a gap in international marine protection measures.
A proposed treaty would set rules for protecting biodiversity in two-thirds of the world’s ocean areas that are outside of national jurisdictions.
Laura Meller, who leads Greenpeace’s ocean protection campaign, accused rich countries such as the United States of being too slow to compromise.
“Russia has also been a key blocker in negotiations, refusing to engage in the treaty process itself, or attempting to compromise with the European Union and many other states on a wide range of issues,” Meller said.
The talks will resume next year unless a special emergency session is called before the end of 2022.
Garbage collectors strike: Stinking piles of garbage on the streets of Edinburgh are threatening the health and safety of the public, a health authority warned Saturday as strikes by garbage collectors in the Scottish capital over pay moved into their ninth day.
Garbage collectors plan to stay off work until Tuesday. Even more strikes lay ahead if the pay dispute is not resolved.
Britain is facing a costof-living crisis, with wage increases failing to keep up with inflation, which last week stood at 10.1%.
Egyptian artifact seized: Federal agents in Memphis have seized a potentially 3,000-year-old ancient Egyptian artifact that was shipped in from Europe.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says they intercepted the Egyptian canopic jar lid depicting the funeral deity Imsety on Aug. 17. The jars were used to hold the internal organs of mummies.
The agency says the item was sent from a dealer to a private buyer in the U.S., and the shipper made contradicting statements about its value.
Authorities say the item is protected by bilateral treaties and is an archaeological import subject to seizure under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act of 1983. The artifact was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further examination.
Uhura’s ashes: The ashes of Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura in the original “Star Trek” television series and died in July, will be launched into space later this year.
Celestis, a private spaceflight company that works with NASA, will carry her ashes on a rocket set to travel between 93,000 million and 186 million miles into space beyond the Earth-moon system and the James Webb telescope.
Nichols, one of the first Black women to have a leading role on a network television series, died at age 89 from heart failure.
As Uhura, the communications officer on the starship USS Enterprise, Nichols was not only a pioneering actor, but she was also credited with inspiring women and people of color to join NASA.
Princess Diana’s car: A car driven by Princess Diana in the 1980s sold for $764,000 at auction Saturday, just days before the 25th anniversary of her death.
Silverstone Auctions said there was “fierce bidding” for the black Ford Escort RS Turbo. The U.K. buyer’s name was not disclosed.
Diana drove the Escort from 1985 to 1988. She preferred to drive her own car, with a member of her security team in the passenger seat.
The car has less than 25,000 miles on it.
Last year, another Ford Escort that Diana used sold at auction for $61,100.