Sniper’s life spared

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was spared by a jury Tuesday from joining his mentor John Allen Muhammad on death row after his lawyers argued that he was an impressionable boy who fell under Muhammad’s murderous spell.

The judge must impose life without parole when Malvo is formally sentenced March 10 for his part in the three-week reign of terror that left 10 people dead in and around the nation’s capital in October 2002.

Malvo, 18, wearing a blue sweater that made him look like a schoolboy, sat expressionless, his elbows on the defense table.

The jury took 8 1/2hours over two days to decide his fate.

The trial was "an extremely difficult journey for everyone," jury foreman Jim Wolfcale said after the verdict. "This case was both mentally challenging and emotionally exhausting."

Wolfcale, reading from a statement as six other jurors stood by, added that the jury felt "heartfelt sympathy" for the victims’ family and friends.

Wolfcale did not discuss why the jury decided on life, but prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed that Malvo’s youth played a major role.

Prosecutor Robert Horan said afterward that Malvo was "very lucky that he looks a lot younger than he is." And he suggested the timing of the deliberations just days before Christmas affected the jury.

Defense attorney Craig Cooley said Malvo was relieved by the sentence, but "on the other hand he’s 18, contemplating living the rest of his natural life in a penitentiary cell."

Last month, Muhammad, 42, was found guilty of murder, and the jury recommended the death penalty. The judge in that case could still overrule the jury when he formally sentences Muhammad.

Both men could still be tried in other shootings in Virginia and elsewhere around the country and could get the death penalty.

Malvo was convicted of murder last week in the shooting of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, who was cut down by a single bullet to the head outside a Home Depot. Malvo was 17 at the time.

Cooley had argued that Malvo had been molded into a killer by the charismatic Muhammad. Cooley said Malvo came to regard Muhammad as a father figure and was susceptible to the older man’s influence because of his own father’s absences and because his mother beat him and moved him constantly.