Jury unable to get a unanimous vote for the death penalty.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) – The jury in the Washington sniper case Tuesday spared Lee Boyd Malvo from the fate awaiting his mentor John Allen Muhammad – the death penalty – after his lawyers portrayed him as an impressionable boy who had fallen under Muhammad’s murderous spell.
Malvo, 18, will be instead be locked away for the rest of his life.A federal prosecution is still a possibility.
Yep.
And I’m a bit surprised they couldn’t get a death sentence on this guy. If the jury thought he was responsible for the murders–which they presumably did since they convicted him–they the “but the old guy was really charming” defense seems rather lame in sentencing.