CHESAPEAKE, Virginia (CNN) -- A Virginia judge Wednesday formally sentenced Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison without parole for his role in the October 2002 Washington-area sniper killings.

CHESAPEAKE, Va., Dec. 23 — A jury spared the life of Lee Malvo on Tuesday, sentencing him to life in prison for murder and terrorism in the sniper attacks last year in the Washington area.

Sniper Trial Jury to Choose Sentence of Life or Death

CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- The jury in the murder trial of Lee Boyd Malvo got the case yesterday after his lawyer argued the teenager was completely under the spell of mastermind John Allen Muhammad when he took part in the Washington-area sniper shootings.

As Lee Boyd Malvo trained for their sniper spree, John Allen Muhammad taught him that emotions were the enemy and they should never interfere with his paramilitary mission, an expert witness testified.

Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo "displayed a pathological loyalty" to John Allen Muhammad and was so brainwashed by him that he no longer knew right from wrong, a defense psychiatrist testified Wednesday.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP)--Attorneys tried to bolster their insanity defense for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo with testimony from a cult expert who said Malvo's childhood could have made him vulnerable to brainwashing by sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad.

CHESAPEAKE, Va., Dec. 5 — An expert on cults testified on Friday at the trial of Lee Malvo, the younger suspect in last fall's sniper attacks in the Washington area. Drawing parallels to the brainwashing of prisoners of war in Korea, to the Jonestown mass suicide and the Branch Davidian siege in Texas, he suggested that John A. Muhammad, who has been sentenced to die for his role in the shootings, may have come to control Mr. Malvo's mind and free will.

Last Updated 8:52 a.m. PST Friday, December 5, 2003CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - An expert on cults testified Friday that sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo could have been brainwashed by convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad, partly because of Malvo's childhood in which his mother often dropped out of his life and moved him to various homes.

CHESAPEAKE, Va.—It started with a gag order and ended with the defence team choking on its own witnesses.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lee Malvo, the 18-year-old suspect in a string of sniper-style shootings that terrorized the U.S. capital region last year, was headed for trial on Monday in the murder of an FBI analyst.