DC Sniper Case Stokes Debate Over Juvenile Life Sentences

 Marsha Levick, co-founder of Juvenile Law Center, says the "incorrigibility" standard shouldn't be news to anyone; she cited Montgomery's holding that "Miller did bar life without parole, ... for all but the rarest of juvenile offenders, those whose crimes reflect permanent incorrigibility."

Aside from the fact that no Virginia judge has ever suspended a capital sentence, which Levick said undercuts the state's claim that Malvo's life term is "discretionary" in the first place, she argued that Virginia's failure to consider Miller factors at his sentencing means it must resentence him to determine if his crimes reflected "permanent incorrigibility."