Maryland judge denies DC sniper Malvo's bid for new sentence

In this Oct. 26, 2004, file photo, Lee Boyd Malvo enters a courtroom in the Spotsylvania, Va., Circuit Court. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star via AP)

ROCKVILLE, Md. – Lee Boyd Malvo, who as a teenager participated in the sniper attacks that killed 10 people and terrorized the Washington region, will not get a new sentence in Maryland, a judge said in a ruling released Wednesday.

Malvo's attorneys had challenged his life sentences in Maryland and in Virginia, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional. The latest ruling means he will essentially continue serving a life sentence even though a different judge ruled he is entitled to a new sentencing in Virginia.

"The six consecutive life-without-parole sentences were imposed after a full consideration of Defendant's physical, mental and emotional state," Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg wrote.

Malvo was 17 when he was arrested for participating in the sniper attacks that killed 10 people and wounded three in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Malvo, now 32, is serving his sentence at Red Onion State Prison in southwest Virginia.

Virginia executed Malvo's accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, in 2009.

A Virginia jury convicted Malvo of capital murder in 2003 for killing FBI analyst Linda Franklin, who was shot in the head outside a Home Depot store. Malvo later struck plea deals in other cases in Virginia and Maryland.

All told, he received four life-without-parole terms in Virginia and six in Maryland.

Malvo's Maryland attorney argued that his sentences should be thrown out because the Supreme Court concluded 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 corrupt."

But Greenberg sided with prosecutors who said that ruling doesn't apply in Maryland because judges are not required to impose life without parole.

Even if Malvo's punishment was mandatory, the judge who sentenced the man "considered all relevant factors at play and the plain import of his words at the time was that Defendant is 'irreparably corrupted,'" Greenberg wrote.

James Johnston, an attorney for Malvo, said in an email that his office is reviewing the decision and evaluating potential next steps.

A spokesman for Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said the prosecutor was not immediately available to comment.

In May, a federal judge threw out Malvo's life sentences in Virginia and said he's entitled to new hearings there in light of the Supreme Court decision. But Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has appealed that decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.