Malvo hanging on to a ray of hope

He has been threatened and his movements have been restricted following the recent decision to overturn his four life sentences, but Jamaica-born Lee Boyd Malvo remains hopeful.

That's according to Carmeta Albarus, forensic social worker and author of The Making of Lee Boyd Malvo: The DC Sniper.

Albarus told The Sunday Gleaner that there was a "trumped-up charge" against Malvo just a few days after a federal judge in Virginia ruled that he is entitled to a new sentence. She said he was accused of plotting against a guard with others.

"Lee has been locked up for 15 years and he has never ever had a charge," said Albarus.

She told our news team that Malvo has also been threatened that the only way he will be leaving will be in a box; however, the consulate and the Department of Corrections were contacted following these threats and the matter has since been rectified.

Albarus, who provides mitigation services for defendants facing capital punishment, first interacted with Malvo after she was asked by his attorneys to assist in his defence. The then teenager was charged along with his mentor, 42-year-old John Allen Muhammad, for his participation in the high-profile DC sniper shootings in 2002 which left 10 people dead and another three wounded.

"He was a young man who had the potential to be anything he wanted to be until Muhammad took over his life," said Albarus.

A United States High Court in May this year overturned four of Malvo's life sentences based on the fact that he was a juvenile at the time of his conviction, but a US district judge later overturned that ruling and ordered that the courts consider new sentences instead. That decision is going to be appealed.

PURSUING FIRST DEGREE

Albarus said Malvo, who is now pursuing a first degree, remains hopeful, although his future is so uncertain.

"He has created hope in the 15 years that he has been incarcerated, and I think that hope will take him through to whatsoever is at the end of the road, whether it is spending the remainder of his life in prison, or it is one day getting out so that he can achieve the potential that was imbued in him.

"There is no guarantee, but I think the factors in Lee's life in terms of the influence that he came under and the way his life has unfolded to this point warrant consideration, and he has a team of very experienced attorneys who are working," she added.