WASHINGTON (AP) - The issue of life with parole sentences for juveniles is back before the court Wednesday in the person of Lee Boyd Malvo, who as a teenager terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002 as one-half of a sniper team.
At issue for the justices is whether Malvo should be resentenced in Virginia in light of Supreme Court rulings restricting life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed by juveniles.
The case gives the more conservative court the chance to put the brakes on what has been a gradual move toward more leniency for juvenile offenders.
Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo is escorted by deputies into court to be identified by a witness during the murder trial at the Virginia Beach Circuit Court October 22, 2003 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (Photo by Davis Turner-Pool/Getty Images)