{"ID":63105,"name":"Mathena v. Malvo","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2019\/18-217","view_count":0,"docket_number":"18-217","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Randall Mathena","second_party":"Lee Boyd Malvo","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1552885200],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/54470"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1571202000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/54588"},{"event":"Dismissed","dates":[1582696800],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/54745"}],"lower_court":{"ID":9,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/9"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EIn 2002, Lee Malvo and John Allen Muhammad killed 10 people in sniper attacks in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009. Malvo, only 17 years old at the time of the attacks, was sentenced to life in prison by judges in Virginia and Maryland. He challenged his Virginia sentences based on two recent US Supreme Court decisions.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/2011\/10-9646\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMiller v. Alabama\u003C\/em\u003E, 567 U.S. 460 (2012),\u003C\/a\u003E the Court held that \u201cmandatory life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment\u2019s prohibition on \u2018cruel and unusual punishments.\u2019\u201d Four years later, in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.oyez.org\/cases\/2015\/14-280\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMontgomery v. Louisiana\u003C\/em\u003E, 577 U.S. __ (2016),\u003C\/a\u003E the Court held that its decision in Miller was a \u201csubstantive rule of constitutional law\u201d and therefore must be given \u201cretroactive effect\u201d in cases where direct review was complete when Miller was decided.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMalvo argued that his sentence must be vacated because \u003Cem\u003EMontgomery\u003C\/em\u003E modified a \u201csubstantive rule of constitutional law\u201d and was thus retroactively applied to his own sentencing. Under this reading, sentences that were legal when imposed, as Malvo\u2019s was, must be vacated if they were imposed in violation of the Court\u2019s new rules. The district court found Malvo\u2019s arguments persuasive and vacated his four sentences of life imprisonment. The Fourth Circuit affirmed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EDoes the decision in \u003Cem\u003EMontgomery v. Louisiana\u003C\/em\u003E modify a \u201csubstantive rule of constitutional law\u201d such that it must be given retroactive effect, requiring the respondent\u2019s sentences of life without the possibility of parole to be vacated?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003EThe case was dismissed on February 26, 2020, due to\u00a0legislation passed in Virginia.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":42810,"name":"Toby J. Heytens","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/toby_j_heytens","view_count":0,"last_name":"Heytens","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"toby_j_heytens"},"advocate_description":"On behalf of the Petitioner","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/22751"},{"advocate":{"ID":22289,"name":"Eric J. 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