November 2003
Virginia v. Malvo
The Commonwealth’s juvenile death penalty is at issue again
by Antionette Calabrase
The case of Commonwealth of Virginia v. Lee Boyd Malvo will draw national as well as international attention when court convenes in Chesapeake on November 10. While some will tune in, no doubt, just to witness the anticipated media spectacle, others will do so out of legitimate interest in learning more about the facts surrounding last year’s D.C.-area sniper shootings. Still others will follow the case closely because Malvo, 17 at the time of the alleged crime, is being tried in one of the few places around the globe where a minor can still be executed.
Since 2000, only four countriesÑthe U.S., the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Pakistan and IranÑare known to have executed minors, according to Amnesty International reports. Since then, Pakistan has abolished the practice and the DRC has established a moratorium on executions. Indeed, in 2002 the United States was the only known nation in the world to have executed juveniles.
“The world has spoken,” said Craig S. Cooley, one of Malvo’s appointed defense attorneys, in a recent pretrial hearing in which he moved that the death penalty be barred as a possible punishment for his client on the grounds that it violates international treaties. “This isn’t a close call. This is the world against us,” he argued. “Some things are so absolutely abhorrent to humanity that it is simply unacceptable. We are at that point when we talk about the execution of children.”
Countering, Robert F. Horan, Fairfax County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney argued that international law does not supersede state or U.S. law. “Every court that has looked at this issue has uniformly rejected what the defense is claiming,” he said.
Hearing both appeals, Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush conceded that the death penalty may have lost favor around the globe, but it remains law in the U.S. “It may at some point be law of the land,” she said of a ban on the death sentence. “Right now, it’s not.”
For the rest of this story, you can order the November 2003 issue of Hampton Roads Monthly magazine.
