Robert Horan, DC teen sniper prosecutor, dies at age 90 | WGN 720 Radio

CLIFTON, Va. (AP) — Robert F. Horan Jr., who secured a conviction in the slaying of DC sniper Lee Boyd Malvo during his four decades as the top prosecutor in Virginia’s largest district, died Friday at his home. He was 90.

The cause of Horan’s death at his home in Clifton, Va., was not immediately determined, but he had been in hospice care, his wife, Monica Horan, said Sunday.

Horan served as the Fairfax County District Attorney for 40 years until his retirement in 2007. He continued to work for the county attorney’s office for many years after his retirement because he enjoyed practicing law and being a public servant, his wife said.

“He believed that the community deserved to have someone who looked out for their best interests as well as the best interests of the victim,” Monica Horan said. “And he felt that people who did evil deserved to be paid for the evil they did.”

Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad shot and killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C., area over a three-week period in October 2002. Malvo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty of murder, capital murder, but declined to sentence him. capital punishment. Muhammad was executed in Virginia in 2009.

Former Prince William County District Attorney Paul Ebert worked with Horan on the sniper case, with Ebert prosecuting Muhammad and Horan prosecuting Malwa.

“He was the best lawyer I’ve ever seen,” Ebert told the Washington Post.