LEE BOYD MALVO v. RANDALL MATHENA
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Niemeyer, June 21, 2018,
Sentencing – Juveniles – Sentencing a juvenile to life without parole can only be done in a homicide case and only after considering whether the juvenile is permanently incorrigible. This constitutional rule is not limited to mandatory sentences.

Facts:
Lee Malvo, one of the two “D.C. Snipers” that terrorized the area in 2002, was responsible for over a dozen murders and attempted murders in the DC/Virginia/Maryland area when he was 17-years old.
Malvo was convicted by a Virginia jury in 2004 of capital murder, but the jury declined to recommend the death penalty. Malvo was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment without parole under Virginia law.
Malvo then pled guilty to capital murder and attempted murder and received two additional terms of life imprisonment without parole.
The Supreme Court later held that a juvenile can only be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for a homicide case where the court looks at the defendant and the facts and determines that the defendant is permanently incorrigible. The Supreme Court also held that this decision was retroactive (applied to all previous cases).
Malvo then sought to have his sentences reversed. The government opposed Malvo’s challenge, arguing that the Supreme Court rule only applied to mandatory sentences of life without parole.

Held: The Fourth Circuit agreed that Malvo’s sentences, though legal at the time, needed to be considered in light of the Supreme Court cases discussing juvenile life sentences without parole. Sent back for resentencing.

Sentencing – A juvenile cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole except in a homicide case

Sentencing – Even in a homicide case, a juvenile cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole unless there is a determination that there is no hope in correcting the juvenile’s behavior in the future (“irreparable corruption or permanent incorrigibility”)

Sentencing – Any juvenile previously sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole may seek a resentencing for consideration of his specific case

From the Case: “We make this ruling not with any satisfaction but to sustain the law. As for Malvo, who knows but God how he will bear the future.”