The Montgomery County Courthouse in Rockville. Photo by Bruce DePuyt.
By Neal Augenstein
A Montgomery County judge denied a motion by convicted D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to vacate his six murder convictions in Maryland for the 2002 rampage, and indefinitely postponed a resentencing hearing.
Malvo, who was 17 years old at the time of the shootings, was convicted of multiple counts of murder in Virginia and Maryland and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has been in prison in Virginia, where he is serving four life sentences.
Since Malvo was initially sentenced, though, a series of Supreme Court rulings and changes in Maryland and Virginia law have severely limited or even abolished the ability to sentence minors to life in prison without parole.
In 2022, Maryland’s highest court ruled 4-3 that Malvo is entitled to a new sentencing hearing.
Malvo viewed Wednesday’s motions hearing via a video link from Virginia’s Keen Mountain Correctional Center.
Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, who was 41, began the attacks in D.C., Maryland and Virginia for a period of three weeks in October 2002. The attacks killed 10 people and critically wounded three others.
In Montgomery County, Malvo and Muhammad were convicted in 2006 for the deaths of James Martin, Sonny Buchanan, Premkumar Walekar, Sarah Ramos, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera and Conrad Johnson. While Malvo received multiple life sentences, Muhammad was sentenced to death in Virginia and was executed on Nov. 10, 2009.
Lee Boyd Malvo in 2003, when he was on trial in Virginia Beach for the D.C. sniper killings. File photo by Davis Turner-Pool/Getty Images
As WTOP first reported, Malvo’s attorneys argued that since Montgomery County prosecutors have been unable to facilitate an agreement between Maryland’s and Virginia’s governors to transport their client to the Rockville courthouse, he was entitled to have his sentences vacated.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Sharon Burrell read aloud a handwritten letter she had received from Malvo last week, in which he wrote that he felt wedged between two immovable states, and that he didn’t have anybody speaking for him.
Malvo told the judge if his Maryland charges were vacated, “If I am ever released, I am ready for a plea deal, without dragging it out any further. I don’t want victims’ families, or the wider community to have to endure another trial.”
However, Malvo’s recommendation was that he serve his Maryland sentences concurrently with his four Virginia life sentences. When he was originally sentenced in Montgomery County, his six life sentences were to be served consecutively.
Malvo’s attorney suggested Montgomery County prosecutors had not vigorously attempted to have his client transferred to Maryland for resentencing. He chided Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, saying he could “use your political connections to get someone’s ear, and I’m sure that message could get to Gov. Moore,” who could contact Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Assistant State’s Attorney Seth Zucker told the judge that Virginia officials have repeatedly made clear “they don’t want to engage” with Maryland about allowing Malvo to travel to Rockville for a resentencing.
“Due to his violent criminal history, Gov. Youngkin’s position is that Mr. Malvo should complete his Virginia sentence before being transferred to Maryland for resentencing,” Youngkin spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement.
After hearing two hours of arguments, Burrell denied the defense motion, saying “the court finds no basis to vacate the plea.”
“However, I don’t agree with prosecutors or the victims’ advocate that the court can order Mr. Malvo to be sentenced remotely,” Burrell said. “Mr. Malvo cannot be sentenced until after his Virginia sentence is served.”
Malvo was scheduled to be resentenced in December, but Burrell postponed his resentencing indefinitely.
Burrell said she would issue a detainer, wherein if Malvo were ever released or paroled from Virginia’s prisons, he would immediately be transferred to Montgomery County to be resentenced in person.