US Sniper suspect re-instates lawyers
Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad changed his mind today and stopped acting as his own lawyer at his trial after only one day of cross-examining witnesses.
Judge LeRoy Millette Jr informed the jury of Muhammad’s decision after a conference at the judge’s bench.
Jonathan Shapiro and Peter Greenspun, who had been advising him on standby since Monday, returned to their former roles as his defence lawyers.
Muhammad had stunned the judge and even his own attorneys when he demanded the right to represent himself, as opening arguments were to begin in his death penalty trial in Virginia Beach.
He is being tried on murder charges related to the killing of Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot at a northern Virginia petrol station during a series of sniper attacks last October around the Washington metropolitan area in which 10 people were killed.
Muhammad, 42, and fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, are also suspected or charged in shootings in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona and Washington state. Malvo will be tried separately.
Prosecutors complained about Muhammad’s self-representation yesterday and asked the judge to rescind it.
They said Muhammad was receiving too much help from Shapiro and Greenspun, whose role as standby counsel was supposed to be limited.
After today’s announcement, Greenspun launched a series of objections during the testimony of Chris Okupski, who sold Muhammad the Chevrolet Caprice prosecutors which was believed was the vehicle used in the sniper attacks.
Greenspun won many of his objections, something that happened only rarely while Muhammad represented himself.
