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Judge affirms life sentence without parole { March 11 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/national/11SNIP.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/national/11SNIP.html
March 11, 2004
Judge Affirms Life Sentence for Teenager in Washington-Area Sniper Killings
By LISA A. BACON
CHESAPEAKE, Va., March 10 — Lee Malvo, the teenager who was convicted of murder in the sniper attacks that left 10 people dead and terrorized the Washington area in 2002, was formally sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole in a proceeding that lasted barely 15 minutes.
In a courtroom crowded with victims' families and reporters, Judge Jane Marum Roush of Fairfax County Circuit Court affirmed the sentence that a jury chose last December after convicting Mr. Malvo of two counts of capital murder in the killing of Linda Franklin, a 47-year-old F.B.I. analyst from Falls Church.
According to Virginia law, a judge has the option of reducing a jury's recommended sentence but cannot increase it. But because life without parole is the state's minimum punishment for a capital murder conviction, Judge Roush had no choice in the matter.
Mr. Malvo's sentencing came a day after Judge LeRoy F. Millette of Prince William County Circuit Court sentenced John A. Muhammad to death for his role in the killings.
In Wednesday's proceeding, Craig Cooley, Mr. Malvo's lawyer, reasserted that were it not for the Svengali-like Mr. Muhammad, the teenager would not have been involved in any killings.
Dressed in what became his trademark sweater and oxford shirt, Mr. Malvo still looked more prep school student than ruthless killer. He waived his right to address the judge before sentencing.
Mr. Cooley asked the judge to have Mr. Malvo placed in a maximum security facility where he could get psychological treatment.
At a news conference after the sentencing, a juror, Doug Keefer, said he had no second thoughts, even though victims' family members expressed disappointment that Mr. Malvo was not sentenced to death. "For me, the important part was that there was some influence from John Muhammad."
In addition to the life sentence, Judge Roush ordered Mr. Malvo to pay $200,000 in fines, but added that there was no expectation he would be able to fulfill that part of the sentence. "The jury wanted to send a message," she said, of how it viewed the egregiousness of the crimes.
The sentencing might not keep Mr. Malvo off death row. Paul B. Ebert, the commonwealth's attorney for Prince William County, who led the case against Mr. Muhammad, said he was considering whether to try Mr. Malvo for capital murder in other deaths. And prosecutors in other states, he said, including Alabama and Louisiana, hope to extradite Mr. Malvo for death penalty trials in shootings committed in those states before the killings began in the Washington area.
But prosecutors in all three states are waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of executing juveniles. Mr. Malvo was 17 when the killings were committed. "If the Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is available for juveniles," Mr. Ebert said, "there likely will be other charges filed in the Commonwealth of Virginia."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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