When the first reports of the D.C. sniper attacks hit the national airwaves, people were stunned. Everybody wanted to know who the snipers were and why they did what they did. Everybody wanted the culprits found and brought to justice.

In the heat of the moment, almost everybody agreed that the death penalty was an apt sentence for such a horrible crime. The trial would be swift, we thought, and the punishment just.

But now that the killers have been apprehended, the situation is different. One of the shooters, Lee Malvo, was only 17 years old at the time of the shooting. That’s not child status by any stretch of the imagination, but Malvo’s early years of abandonment by his mother and influence from John Allen Muhammad might have played a significant part in molding him into a killer.

And for these reasons, Malvo should not be given the death penalty.

Defense attorneys brought in witnesses who testified that Malvo had an unsteady upbringing, attending several different schools in the Caribbean.

While his mother went to look for work, Malvo stayed with anybody who would take him in.

Malvo’s father, Leslie Malvo, testified that his relationship with Malvo’s mother, Una James, was a rocky one. He claimed that she beat him and abused him, often for no apparent reason.

When his mother left him under the care of John Allen Muhammad, Malvo finally found some guidance. Unfortunately, that guidance came from a man who was given the highest Army award for marksmanship and who faced disciplinary charges while in the Louisiana National Guard.

While under the care of Muhammad, Malvo traveled across the Caribbean and into the United States. Muhammad took Malvo to visit his family in late 2002, and a family member reported that Muhammad kept him on a strict diet, allowing him to eat only crackers, honey and nutritional supplements.

Judging from the evidence, it seems clear that Muhammad exerted a powerful influence over Malvo, and it leads us to question whether the death penalty is right in this instance.

Yes, Malvo is responsible for the deaths of several people in the Washington, D.C., area. Yes, he will go to jail for his crimes. But given the hardships he has already faced throughout his young life, the death penalty should be out of the question.

Joe Shaw is a columnist for The News Record at the University of Cincinnati. He appeared on U-Wire.