Sniper trial jurors to decide fate of teenage killer
A US jury was considering today whether Washington sniper Lee Malvo should live or die, after the teenager was convicted of capital murder over the three-week reign of terror.
The jury in Chesapeake, Virginia, rejected claims that Malvo, 18, was brainwashed by John Muhammad, the older man who masterminded the killings, into taking part in the shooting spree that left 10 people dead.
Jurors were deciding whether Malvo should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. A jury in nearby Virginia Beach convicted Muhammad, 42, last month and recommended he be executed.
Malvo, who often had an animated expression during the trial, leaned on his elbows at the table with a blank look on his face as the verdict was read yesterday. The jury deliberated for 13 hours over two days before rejecting Malvo’s insanity defence.
The teenager was convicted of two counts of capital murder in the October 14, 2002, killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, who was cut down by a single bullet to the head outside a Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia.
Franklin’s daughter, Katrina Hannum, cried after the verdict as other people in the courtroom patted each other on the shoulders.
“I’m happy,” said June Boyle, the detective who heard Malvo’s confession. “Not all the way happy yet, though. We still have sentencing to do.”
A man wounded in a shooting that Malvo and Muhammad are accused of committing before the sniper spree said he was grateful jurors rejected the defence argument that Muhammad’s influence had made Malvo insane. That emotion was echoed by other victims’ relatives.
“He was just as responsible,” said Muhammad Rashid, who said he saw Malvo moments before he was shot on September 15 last year outside a Brandywine, Maryland, off-licence. “There is no chance I have any forgiveness for him.”
One of the counts against Malvo said the killing was part of a series of murders over a three-year period. The other said that Franklin’s killing was intended to terrorise the public. Malvo and Muhammad are the first people tried under the post-September 11 terrorism law.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft had cited Virginia’s ability to impose “the ultimate sanction”, in sending Malvo and Muhammad there for prosecution. Virginia is one of only 21 states that allow the execution of those who were 16 or 17 when they killed. Malvo was 17 at the time of the sniper rampage.
Prosecutors portrayed Malvo as a gleeful and eager triggerman in the killing spree, saying he fired shots from the trunk of a beat-up Chevy while Muhammad plotted the attacks.
Ten people were killed and three wounded during the spree – most them as they went about their daily routines. A 13-year-old boy was wounded after being dropped off at school. A mother was gunned down as she vacuumed her mini-van at a petrol station. One victim was mowing grass when he was killed. Another was buying groceries.
Authorities said the killings were part of an attempt to extort $10m (€8m) from the US government.
During the six-week trial, jurors saw several grisly crime scene photos and heard two police confessions in which a cocky Malvo gloated about the killings.
Under interrogation, Malvo claimed initially to be the triggerman in all the Washington-area sniper shootings, but later recanted and said Muhammad was the gunman in all but the final shooting.
The defence argued that Malvo initially took the blame to protect Muhammad, the man he had come to view as a father. The defence said Muhammad had “indoctrinated” Malvo with his beliefs about black nationalism, racism, white oppression and revolutionary violence, leaving the young man unable to tell right from wrong.
Muhammad was convicted of identical charges for the killing of Dean Meyers at a petrol station. The judge could reduce his punishment to life in prison when he sentences Muhammad in February, although Virginia judges rarely overrule a jury’s recommendation of death.
