A federal appeals court in the US has ordered that Jamaican born Lee Boyd Malvo, who is serving life in prison for deadly shootings in the Washington DC area 16 years ago, be resentenced in Virginia because he was only 17 years old at the time of his crimes.
The ruling was handed down Thursday.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal by prosecutors who said Malvo need not be resentenced over his role in the D.C. sniper case, which left 10 people dead over three weeks in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.
It cited recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional, and that this rule applied retroactively.
Malvo now 33 years old, received four life sentences in Virginia, after being convicted of two murders and later entering a separate guilty plea to avoid the death penalty.
He also received life without parole in Maryland.
John Allen Muhammad, Malvo's older accomplice, was also convicted over the shooting spree.
He was executed in 2009.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring had argued that Malvo's sentences in that state were acceptable because the trial judge had discretion to impose lesser punishment.
A spokeswoman for Mr Herring said the office may appeal the ruling.
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