NORFOLK, VA — Lee Boyd Malvo, one of two people convicted in the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks in the Washington, DC, area will get a new sentencing hearing.
Malvo was 17 when he was sentenced to life in prison without having a sentencing hearing, a practice that the U.S. Supreme Court has since ruled unconstitutional.
Malvo and John Muhammed, also known as John Allen Williams, spent time in Baton Rouge just months before the attacks. Williams was born in New Orleans and served in the National Guard and the Army. Malvo was his step-son.
In the fall of 2002, the pair went on a shooting spree, killing seven people and injuring three more. Investigators say the pair created a sniper’s post in the truck of the car. They used an AR-15 tactical rifle.
Williams was sentenced to death and was executied in November of 2009.
There was evidence that the two also shot people in other states.
In 2010, Malvo sent a letter to a man who he shot in the neck in Hammond in 2002. John Gaeta said at the time that he wasn’t sure if Malvo was sincere or simply hoping to have his life sentence reduced.
Malvo’s attorney says the convicted accomplice was actually the first victim of the shooting spree because he was recruited by his father-figure, Willaims.
Malvo could still get a life sentence. The order from a federal district court that the previous sentence be thrown out only means that Malvo will go through the sentencing process another time, just with a sentencing hearing included.