posted on October 20, 2003 02:04:26 PM new
Oct. 20, 2003, 2:28PM
Sniper suspect representing himself Muhammad gives rambling opening statement
Associated Press
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad won a surprise request today to represent himself at trial and delivered a rambling opening statement in which he quoted Jesus and spoke about the meaning of truth.
"One of the things we're here for today is to find out what everyone wants to know. What happened?" Muhammad told the jury.
"There's three truths. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I always thought there was just one truth," he said.
He added, "Jesus said, 'Ye shall know the truth.'"
"The facts should help us identify what's a lie, what's not a lie," he said.
In the first five minutes of his statement, Muhammad, wearing a suit and tie, said nothing directly about the sniper attack in which he is accused.
He then told a story in which he punished his daughter for eating chocolate cookies, only to find out later that the daughter had not actually disobeyed him. He said he is similarly being persecuted by authorities who don't know the truth behind the sniper spree.
"I know what happened. I know what didn't happen. They're basing what they said about me on a theory," he said.
"If we monitor step by step, it will all show I had nothing to do with these crimes," Muhammad said. "They know this."
He asked the jury to pay close attention because "my life and my son's life is on the line," apparently a reference to fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo.
He also said he hopes to be found innocent "by the grace of Allah."
Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette ruled this morning as the trial was about to begin that Muhammad could represent himself, a request that came as a surprise. Just last week, Muhammad had told the judge that he was satisfied with the work of his attorneys.
Muhammad, 42, is charged with capital murder in the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, a 53-year-old Vietnam veteran who was gunned down outside a northern Virginia gas station last October. Meyers was the seventh victim of a three-week shooting spree that left 10 people dead in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Fifteen days after Meyers' slaying, Muhammad and Malvo were arrested at a highway rest stop in Maryland. Prosecutors have said the shootings were part of a plot to extort $10 million from the government.
The first prosecution witness called today was Mark Spicer, a sergeant major in the British Army with expertise as a sharpshooter.
Muhammad objected, saying he had been given no notice of Spicer's testimony. Prosecutor Paul Ebert said he is not required to provide such notice, and the judge agreed.
Spicer testified that a sniper's "main weapon is his ability to spread terror over a much larger force than himself." Snipers work in two-man teams, and it would be nearly impossible for them to successful working alone, he said.
The trial started nearly an hour late as Muhammad's request to represent himself was discussed in the judge's chambers.
Once in the courtroom, Millette immediately called a bench conference with Muhammad and defense and prosecuting attorneys. Muhammad and Millette spoke directly to each other for more than five minutes before the judge announced that defense lawyers Peter Greenspun and Jonathan Shapiro would only be assisting Muhammad.
"His attorneys are now what is known as standby counsel," Millette told the jury. He did not explain why Muhammad chose to represent himself.
As the trial got under way, assistant prosecutor James Willett began his opening statement by silently assembling a Bushmaster rifle, apparently the same one authorities believe was used in the attacks.
He briefly addressed Muhammad's decision to represent himself, saying: "It is an unusual but not unheard of thing for someone in his position to do. The court felt he did have at least the basic ability to represent himself."
Willett then explained the importance of a spotter's role in a sniper shooting, which will be an important issue at trial.
Defense lawyers have argued that Malvo fired the fatal shot in Meyers' Oct. 9, 2002, slaying. Because of that, they argue, Virginia law prohibits imposing the death penalty against Muhammad on one of the two capital murder counts he faces.
But prosecutors say Muhammad's role in the shooting was so direct that he might as well have pulled the trigger.
Willett showed the jury a diagram of the intersection where Meyers was shot, and that the fatal shot came from across the street.
"It was a distance of about 80 yards," Willett said. "You can see how important a spotter would be" to help locate and point out a target to the shooter.
Prosecutors have not spelled out the order of their witnesses or evidence, but Malvo is expected to appear. He was flown to the jail in Virginia Beach on Sunday from northern Virginia, where he has been jailed, and has orders to appear in court, said Paula Miller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office.
Prosecutors would not say why Malvo was summoned. He refused to testify at a recent hearing and instead invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Malvo's trial -- in the Oct. 14, 2002, shooting death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin -- begins Nov. 10 in Chesapeake, also in southeast Virginia.
Both trials were moved to southeast Virginia after defense lawyers argued that every northern Virginia resident could be considered a victim because of the fear the shootings inspired in the region. The suspects are being tried in Virginia first because of the state's strong death penalty laws. Virginia has executed 89 people -- second only to Texas' 310 -- since the U.S. Supreme Court permitted the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976.
Experts have said the military ties and backgrounds of the jurors chosen in Muhammad's trial are likely to favor the prosecution. The jury includes a retired Navy pilot, the spouse of a retired Navy mechanic, an Air Force retiree whose husband also was in the Air Force, and a former Navy officer whose husband retired from the Navy.
"In general, Virginia juries are going to be prosecution juries," except in more urban areas, said Donald H. Smith, an Old Dominion University sociology professor who studies jury behavior.
posted on October 20, 2003 02:24:05 PM new
He may be crazy like a fox...
Henry Asbill, a former District of Columbia public defender and past president of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, said a conviction of Muhammad would not spell the end of the case.
"This case is going to be litigated, I think, long after this trial," Asbill said. "I'd be looking for any type of legal arguments that could be raised down the road that might forestall the inevitable sentencing if there is a guilty verdict in this case, because you never know when the Supreme Court might rule the death penalty unconstitutional.
