D.C. Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo and the Challenge to Juvenile Life Sentences

Update (October 2026): In June 2018, the Fourth Circuit upheld the order giving Malvo new sentencing hearings in Virginia. Malvo v. Mathena, 893 F.3d 265 (4th Cir. 2018). Virginia appealed, and the Supreme Court heard argument. But in February 2020, Virginia passed a law making people who were juveniles at the time of their crime eligible for parole after 20 years. The parties then dismissed the case. Mathena v. Malvo, No. 18-217 (docket). In 2021, the Supreme Court also held that a judge does not have to make a separate finding that a juvenile is "permanently incorrigible" before imposing life without parole. Jones v. Mississippi, 593 U.S. 98 (2021).

Lee Boyd Malvo was 17 when he took part in the 2002 D.C. sniper shootings. Years later, two Supreme Court decisions on life-without-parole sentences for juveniles gave him a way to challenge his sentences, and a federal court ordered new sentencing hearings. The case shows how a change in the law can reopen even a notorious sentence, and also its limits.

When this post was written in 2018, a bomber had just terrorized Austin, Texas, with a string of package-bomb attacks. That kind of domestic terrorism is not new.

The D.C. Sniper Case in 2002

In October 2002, the D.C. Sniper terrorized Maryland, D.C., and Virginia for three weeks. People were shot while doing everyday things like pumping gas, mowing the lawn, or loading groceries. The whole region was on edge. The random shootings paralyzed the D.C. area, much as Austin was paralyzed until the bomber there died.

Domestic Terrorism

Two men were prosecuted: John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. Investigators later learned the pair carried out the shootings, 14 in all, by firing at random people through a small hole cut in the trunk of a blue Chevy Caprice. Muhammad, much older, was the leader. Malvo, who was 17, acted as a kind of apprentice, but he was the shooter in some of the killings.

Muhammad was sentenced to death. Malvo was not. In Virginia, his jury chose life without parole instead of death.

How the Law Changed After 2002

When the case was tried, many states required life without parole for certain crimes, even for juveniles. Whether Malvo's life sentence was mandatory was disputed, as explained below. Two Supreme Court cases later gave him a basis to challenge it.

First, in 2012, Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, held that a mandatory life-without-parole sentence for someone under 18 violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." A judge must be able to consider the young person's age, family, and home life. Life without parole is still possible, but the court must look at all the facts of the case. A legislature cannot make it automatic. That holds true even in domestic terrorism cases.

Second, in 2016, Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190, made Miller retroactive. That means people already serving mandatory juvenile life sentences imposed before Miller could challenge them, because making those sentences mandatory was unconstitutional.

Malvo's Sentencing Appeal

Malvo argued Montgomery entitled him to have his Virginia sentences revisited. A federal judge agreed and ordered new sentencing hearings. Virginia appealed to the Fourth Circuit.

Malvo's lawyer argued that circumstances had changed and he was a different person. Then 32, Malvo was no longer under Muhammad's control, and his lawyer said he was back to the kind, compassionate person he had been as a child.

Virginia argued Miller and Montgomery apply only to mandatory sentences, and Malvo's jury chose his sentence after a hearing.

As noted in the update above, the Fourth Circuit ruled for Malvo, but the case ended after Virginia changed its parole law. Even a successful challenge to a juvenile life sentence does not guarantee a shorter sentence, especially for crimes this serious. When this post was first written, the original article noted that Malvo's crimes were especially horrific, and that many other juveniles in the system have more sympathetic stories and committed less serious offenses.

Facing a federal sentence? Book a consultation to talk it through with Brandon Sample.