The Virginia Parole Board has ruled that Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the “D.C. Snipers,” is still a danger to society 20 years later.
The board denied Malvo’s request for parole late last month. He was 17 when he and his accomplice John Allen Muhammad traveled across the country, killing and wounding people in multiple states.
The duo is reportedly connected to over two dozen shootings that occurred over 10 months in 2002. In their last three weeks, they killed 10 and wounded three others in Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland, reports show.
Malvo was convicted in Virginia for weapons charges, capital murder and attempted murder in 2004 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. However, recent state legislative changes and a series of Supreme Court rulings made Malvo, who was 17 when he committed the crimes, eligible for parole.
Virginia officials ruled on Aug. 30 that Malvo needed to serve more time considering his offenses and “institutional records” before being granted parole.
“Release at this time would diminish seriousness of crime; serious nature and circumstances of your offense(s),” the board’s report says. “The Board considers you a risk to the community.”
The killing spree was reportedly a part of Muhammad’s scheme to regain custody of his children by making it appear that his ex-wife was killed by a random act of violence. Malvo, a native of Jamaica, moved to Antigua, where he met Muhammad, who allegedly trained and inculcated him. Muhammad was executed in Virginia in 2009.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional. He also received a life prison sentence in Maryland for crimes he committed, so even if he were granted parole, he would still remain behind bars.
Still, two federal courts found that Malvo was entitled to new sentencing hearings. The neighboring state’s highest court ruled that Malvo must be resentenced for those crimes there.
