A jury yesterday rejected the death penalty for sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, sentencing him instead to life in prison without parole for a spree of random attacks that killed 10 people in the Washington D.C. area last year.

Defense lawyers argued that in deciding the sentence Malvo’s youth should be taken into account. He was just 17 at the time of the shootings. Prosecutor Robert Horan said Malvo, “is very lucky that he looks a lot younger than he is.”