Unsealed Papers Reveal Confusion About Identity of Sniper Suspect

Most of Washington, D.C.-area sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo’s juvenile court records were unsealed Thursday, revealing initial confusion about his age and even his identity.

About 70 lines in the 88 pages of records were blacked out. Attorneys for Associated Press, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post and the New York Times had asked a judge to unseal the federal records.

The documents detail uncertainty about Malvo’s identity and age after he was arrested with John Allen Muhammad in Maryland in October. The two are accused of shooting 19 people, killing 13 and wounding six, in five states and the District of Columbia.

The records include transcripts from a closed hearing for Malvo on Nov. 4, during which Assistant U.S. Atty. David Copperthite told U.S. Magistrate Judge James Bredar there was “conflicting evidence” about Malvo’s age and that the suspect could not be positively identified.

The hearing had been closed because Malvo was believed to be a juvenile; authorities later determined he was in fact 17. The prosecutor also told the judge that Malvo was in violation of U.S. immigration restrictions put in place after he entered the country illegally with his mother.

Bredar in December ruled that the records should remain sealed. Since then, however, a judge in Fairfax County, Va., has cleared the way for Malvo to be tried as an adult.