Muhammad Convicted in Sniper Victim Case

Culture & Society Forum

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - In a verdict that could cost him his life, a stone-faced John Allen Muhammad was convicted Monday of using a high-powered rifle, a beat-up car and a teenage sidekick to murder people at random and terrorize the Washington area during last year's sniper attacks.


The jury immediately began hearing evidence on whether the 42-year-old Army veteran should get the death penalty or life in prison. The penalty phase is expected to last several days.


"We reserve the death penalty for the worst of the worst," prosecutor Richard Conway told the jurors. "Folks, he still sits right in front of you without a shred of remorse."


Muhammad stood impassively as the verdict was read, looking straight ahead with the same enigmatic look he had throughout the trial. Two jurors held hands, and two others wept. Family members of victims held hands and wiped away tears.


The jury deliberated for 6 1/2 hours over two days before convicting Muhammad of two counts of capital murder. One accused him of taking part in multiple murders, the other — the result of a post-Sept. 11 terrorism law — alleged the killings were designed to terrorize the population. Muhammad is the first person tried under the Virginia law.


Muhammad was found guilty of killing Dean Harold Meyers, a Vietnam veteran who was cut down by a single bullet that hit him in the head on Oct. 9, 2002, as he filled his tank at a Manassas gas station. He was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and use of a firearm in a felony.


The victim's brother Robert said he believes Muhammad deserves the death penalty: "I must say that I can't think of too many more heinous crimes than this one."


Fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, is on trial separately in nearby Chesapeake for the killing of FBI (news - web sites) analyst Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church. He also could get the death penalty. Malvo's attorneys are pursuing an insanity defense, arguing that the young man had been "indoctrinated" by Muhammad.


Prosecutors presented evidence of 16 shootings, including 10 deaths, in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana and the District of Columbia that they said were part of a plot to extort $10 million from the government. Prosecutors say that during the sentencing phase, they also plan to present evidence of a killing in Washington state.


The men's trials were moved some 200 miles to southeastern Virginia out of concern that it would be too hard to find an impartial jury close to the nation's capital because the sniper attacks had terrorized so many people.


The verdict came after three weeks of testimony in which a series of victims and other witnesses graphically — and often tearfully — recalled the horror that gripped the Washington area.


William Franklin recalled being splattered with his wife's blood outside a Home Depot. A retiree described seeing a woman slumped over on a bench, blood pouring from her head. The only child shot during the spree testified: "I put my book bag down and I got shot."


Jurors also saw several stomach-turning crime-scene photos, despite protests by the defense that the pictures were gratuitous.


Ten people were killed in the region and three were wounded in the spree, many of them shot as they went about their daily tasks: shopping at a crafts store, buying groceries, mowing the lawn, going to school.


At the height of the killings, the area was so terrified that sports teams were forced to practice indoors, people kept their heads down as they pumped gas, and teachers drew the blinds on their classroom windows.


At one point, a handwritten letter was found tacked to a tree near a Virginia restaurant where a man was shot, and it included the chilling postscript: "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time." A tarot card left near a shooting outside a school declared: "Call me God."


The prosecution case included ballistics tests that connected the .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle found in Muhammad's car to nearly all the shootings; testimony that his DNA was on the weapon; and a stolen laptop computer discovered in the blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice that contained maps of six shooting scenes, each marked with skull-and-crossbones icons.





The gun was found strapped behind the back seat of the Caprice, which prosecutors said Muhammad converted to "a killing machine." The back seat was unhinged so that it could flip up and provide access to the trunk. The windows were tinted, and a hole was cut in the trunk, allowing a person to fire the rifle through it.

Prosecutors presented no direct evidence that Muhammad pulled the trigger, but said it didn't matter. They described Muhammad as the "captain" of a two-man "killing team" and portrayed him as Malvo's father figure, a stern and controlling man who trained the teenager to do his bidding.

"That is a young man he molded and made an instrument of death and destruction," prosecutor Paul Ebert said in closing arguments.

The defense appeared focused on saving Muhammad from the death penalty, arguing that the evidence did not prove Muhammad directed the shootings or fired the gun in the Meyers slaying. Attorney Peter Greenspun said in his closing statement that prosecutors had "pounded" jurors with gory photos and heartbreaking testimony in an appeal to their emotions.

In the penalty phase, prosecutors must prove one of two factors for the jury to recommend a death sentence: that Muhammad would present a future danger or that the crimes demonstrate "a depravity of mind."

If the jury recommends a death sentence, the judge can reduce it to life without parole. If the jury recommends life, its decision is binding.

Defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro argued that Muhammad's life should be spared, and told jurors they will be surprised to hear what a good father Muhammad was and how so many people respected him.

"Your decision will put John Muhammad into a box of one sort or another. One is made of concrete, one is made of pine," Shapiro said.

The defense won a victory when Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. ruled that only Meyers' family could offer victim-impact testimony to the jury. Prosecutors had hoped to put on testimony from other families, too.

The case took a strange twist on the first day of the trial when Muhammad fired his court-appointed attorneys and began representing himself. He delivered a rambling opening statement and cross-examined witnesses with questions like, "Have you ever seen me shoot anyone?" He questioned witnesses for one day before handing the defense back to his lawyers.

At the Malvo trial Monday, jurors heard testimony about the shooting of the FBI analyst.

But unlike the jury at Muhammad trial, Malvo's jurors did not get to hear the 911 tape of that call, in which William Franklin wails and his voice rises as he tries to explain to the dispatcher that his wife had been shot in the head.

Judge Jane Marum Roush listened to the tape with jurors out of the courtroom and agreed with the defense that the tape was prejudicial.

Prosecutors put 17 witnesses on the stand Monday. Roush said the defense would like to begin presenting its case Friday, and prosecutors said they are on track to finish by then.

Defense attorney Craig Cooley said Monday night that Malvo had been told about Muhammad's conviction, but the lawyer declined to comment on his client's reaction.

I agree that Muhammad should get the death penalty, but not Malvo, if he is convicted. He should get life, but I'm undecided as to whether it should be without parole.

What these two did was such a heinous act. Outright murder... and terror!! They made this nation become terrified to leave their houses. They randomly picked people to kill. I don't think either of those two should EVER see the light of day again. I think that they should receive the HARSHEST sentences. Nothing given to them. Absolutely nothing. They are, in my opinion, terrorists!!!

Justice has been served as far as Mohummad is concerned. Malvo deserves the same damn thing, to suffer the same fate as all the victims have.

The jury came back with the death sentence for Muhammad!

FYI


Jury Decides on Death for Sniper Muhammad


By Deborah Zabarenko

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. The jury that convicted Washington-area sniper John Muhammad of murder recommended on Monday he be sentenced to death for one of 10 fatal shootings that terrorized the U.S. capital last year.


Muhammad stood impassively in front of the jury as the ruling was read out, his hands clasped in front of him. He later shook hands with his attorneys before being led away.


The panel of seven women and five men recommended two death sentences for Muhammad, who was portrayed in court as the mastermind behind a series of 13 sniper-style shootings, and the trainer of his alleged teen-age accomplice, Lee Malvo.


Judge LeRoy Millette tentatively set formal sentencing for Feb. 12 to allow time for any post-trial motions.


Malvo's lawyers have followed Muhammad's case closely, on the theory that the prosecution picture of Muhammad as a manipulative orchestrator of murder could help their insanity defense. They maintain Muhammad brainwashed Malvo into participating in the sniper shootings.


Muhammad's case was a victory of sorts for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who decided that Muhammad and Malvo should be tried first in Virginia because of its assertive death penalty laws, despite killings in Maryland and Washington, D.C., that have been linked to the pair.


Muhammad, a 42-year-old Gulf War veteran, was found guilty on Nov. 17 of two murder counts, conspiracy and a weapons charge in the death of Dean Meyers, a Maryland man gunned down at a gas station on Oct. 9, 2002, near Manassas, Virginia.


Virginia law allows two capital murder charges in the case of a single death and Muhammad was convicted of two such death-penalty charges. One involved the question of multiple murders, in which Muhammad was found guilty of killing Meyers within three years of committing another slaying.


The other involved committing murder as an act of terrorism, part of Virginia's anti-terrorism law, enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijack attacks.


In finding that he deserved the death penalty, jurors agreed that his crimes were sufficiently vile that they showed the actions of a depraved mind, and they also unanimously found he would be a future danger to society if not put to death.


"VILENESS AND VIOLENCE"


Jury foreman Jerry Haggerty said the panel was most swayed by "the collective nature of the crimes."


"The vileness and violence was there across the board, and the lack of remorse," Haggerty told reporters after court recessed.


Prosecutor Paul Ebert said he considered the jury's death penalty decision a victory, but stopped short at guessing at Muhammad's motive for the killings.


"One thing's for sure, they took pleasure in terrorizing people, they took pleasure in killing people and that's the kind of man who doesn't deserve to be in society," Ebert said.


The jury's findings came as prosecutors in Malvo's trial were set to wrap up their case in nearby Chesapeake, Virginia, where he is being tried as an adult in a separate murder stemming from the October 2002 spree.


Muhammad and Malvo each were charged with one murder in the series of 10 seemingly random sniper-style killings that spread fear in the Washington area.


Attorneys for Malvo, who was 17 when the crimes were committed, plan to argue the teen-ager was brainwashed by Muhammad. He also faces a possible death sentence.

Defense attorney Craig Cooley has argued that after Muhammad met Malvo in Antigua in 2000, the older man created prime brainwashing conditions, keeping the frail, attention-starved youth by his side as they lived in cars and shelters. He schooled Malvo in a worldview that included hostility toward government and an appreciation for military skills, Cooley said.

Both trials were moved 200 miles from the Washington area to southeastern Virginia in search of unbiased juries.

Yes, but that doesn't mean that he will get it. He will appeal this, while our taxes pay for him to sit in a cell, and have lobster and watch tv. Pisses me off!!!! Give me a rope... I'll end this for ya!

I think that ALL death penalty cases should have a "3 Strikes and you're out!" policy. You must have an appeal hearing within 6 months of your sentencing. If that fails, you have 6 more months, and then 6 more months for your 3rd try. If all 3 fail... BYE BYE!!! I'm sick and tired of all the money that is spent housing these people for 20 years, while they are appealing over and over and over.

they were set up, their blk, the goverment set them up