Virginia's attorney general appealed new sentencing hearings for convicted D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo Friday.
Last month, a federal judge ordered Malvo to be resentenced, NBC News correspondent Pete Williams reported.
Two notices of appeal were filed because Malvo has convictions in Spotsylvania and Chesapeake. The commonwealth also filed a stay pending appeal.
The ruling affects Malvo’s sentence, not his conviction.
Malvo is one of two men convicted for a string of shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area in the fall of 2002, when Malvo was 17. Ten people died and three were wounded.
Malvo is serving life without parole. Public defender James Johnston argued the sentence is illegal because the U.S. Supreme Court determined such sentences are unconstitutional for juveniles. In 2012, the Supreme Court struck down life sentences without parole for juveniles. In 2016, it said that holding applied retroactively to cases on appeal.
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Federal district court judge Raymond Jackson ruled because of those two Supreme Court decisions, Malvo must be resentenced, Williams reported.
John Allen Muhammad, the other man convicted in the sniper shootings, was executed in Virginia in 2009.
Malvo was first put on trial in Chesapeake, Virginia, in 2003, in a trial that was moved from Fairfax County. He was convicted of capital murder. The jury only had the option of a death penalty or life in prison without parole and opted for a life sentence.
Subsequently, Malvo struck plea bargains in Maryland and Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in which he agreed to accept a life sentence.
He also admitted to shootings in other states.
