[JURIST] Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Ryan has sentenced convicted Washington, DC-area sniper John Allen Muhammad [BBC profile] to six consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. Muhammad was convicted [JURIST report] by a Maryland jury of six counts of murder earlier this week. Last year, Muhammad was convicted and sentenced to death [JURIST report] in Virginia for shootings there. Maryland prosecutors did not seek the death penalty [JURIST report] but wanted a second conviction in case the Virginia conviction is overturned on appeal.

Accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo [BBC profile], who pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to the Virginia charges and received a life sentence, testified [JURIST report] in the Maryland case that Muhammad pulled the trigger in five of the six killings there. Muhammad has called the government case a frame-up, saying he was in the Washington, DC area to find his ex-wife and children. AP has more.