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Appeals court to consider life sentences of D.C. sniper defendant Malvo

The murder spree started in Tacoma in 2002.
A federal appeals court in Virginia this week will hear arguments about the life sentences being served by Lee Boyd Malvo, one of two men convicted in the sniper shootings that killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C., region in the fall of 2002.

A federal appeals court in Virginia this week will hear arguments about the life sentences being served by Lee Boyd Malvo, one of two participants in the sniper shootings that killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C., region in the fall of 2002.

A hearing is scheduled Tuesday before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, The Associated Press reported.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is appealing.

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, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, later struck plea deals in other cases in Virginia and Maryland.

In all, he received four life-without-parole terms in Virginia and six in Maryland.

But a federal judge last May threw out Malvo's life sentences in Virginia, saying he's entitled to new sentencing hearings in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that found mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional.

The ruling does not affect his convictions or the life sentences Malvo, now 32, was given in Maryland.

Malvo's co-defendant, John Allen Muhammad, was executed in Virginia in 2009.

The murder spree started in Tacoma when then 16-year-old Malvo shot 21-year-old Keenya Cook. Muhammad and Malvo went on to murder 10 more people in the fall of 2002.

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