On Nov. 4, sniper suspect John Lee Malvo, 17, appeared in court. Judge James Bredar has ordered that Malvo be detained on federal juvenile charges and that his records remained sealed. As of yet, that is all that has come out of the courtroom in the Malvo case.
The media did learn about a confession Malvo gave to investigators. He admitted to shooting FBI analyst Linda Franklin. The problem is the confession may be barred from court because his court-appointed guardian or attorney was not present. Malvo’s lawyer, Michael Arif, criticized police for what he called “an unconstitutional interrogation” and that “the police were flooding the media and poisoning the jury pool.” The confession will likely need a separate court ruling for its admission.
The gravity of this case simply requires it to be covered by the press. Lives around the country have been affected by the sniper attacks. They tuned in to the nightly news and looked in morning newspapers to see the ongoing coverage of the shootings.
Juvenile cases are traditionally closed to the media. The general precedent is that juveniles are supposed to be protected because they could still be productive to society later in life. But the new trends in courtroom leniency to minors is dwindling. The increasing number of serious offenses has swayed some judges to give harsher punishments to juvenile offenders.
A recent case in Florida involving two younger boys who confessed to bludgeoning their father to death with a baseball bat was in the public eye from start to finish, and it did not nearly affect the number of people the sniper shootings did.
Malvo is approaching the age where his ideals are starting to mold, plus he is very close to being considered an adult. The fact that he is an illegal alien doesn’t help his case. His rights are limited to the Miranda rights read to him during his arrest and courtroom legalities.
Approaching is the preliminary court case, which will be held Jan. 14. The public has a right to know the facts of Malvo’s trial as they unfold. There are times when the status quo needs to be broken and this is the time. The national interest in this story is too important to ignore.
