Maryland Supreme Court hears case from D.C. sniper seeking new sentence

Maryland's highest court heard arguments Tuesday on whether Washington, D.C., sniper Lee Boyd Malvo's six life sentences without possibility of parole should be reconsidered because of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision barring mandatory life sentences for juveniles.

Kiran Iyer, a Maryland public defender, argued that life without parole sentences for Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings that terrorized the region, should be reconsidered in light of the Supreme Court ruling. He also contends his client should benefit from Maryland's new law enabling prisoners convicted as juveniles to seek release once they've served at least 20 years.

Malvo and his mentor, John Allen Muhammad, then 41, shot people in Virginia, Maryland and Washington as they pumped gas, loaded packages into their cars and went about their everyday business during a three-week period in 2002.