PAGE 10A
Laredo Morning Times
NATIONAL
Prosecutors present evidence
against teen sniper Malvo
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Prosecutors hoping
to bring a death-penalty case against 17year-old sniper suspect John Lee Malvo
said Tuesday that fingerprints on the murder weapon link him to three fatal attacks
and a fourth that left a man critically
wounded.
Prosecutor Robert Horan Jr. also said
Malvo contacted police four times — in two
notes and two phone calls — trying to
extort more than $10 million in exchange
for stopping last fall‘s deadly attacks in the
Washington area.
”All of this was an attempt to intimidate
the government to pay in excess of $10
million for these defendants and this defendant in particular to stop the shooting,”
Horan said.
Defense attorneys did not make an opening statement.
Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, 42,
have been accused of shooting 18 people,
killing 13 and wounding five in Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and
Washington, D.C. The two are being tried
first in Virginia.
The hearing, expected to last into
Wednesday, is to determine whether Malvo
will be tried as an adult in Fairfax County
and possibly face a death sentence.
Malvo faces two counts of capital murder
related to the Oct. 14 slaying of FBI analyst
Linda Franklin under two separate Virginia
statutes.
One of the counts allows the death penalty when a person commits more than one
murder in a three-year period. The second
count allows the death penalty under
Virginia‘s new anti-terrorism statute,
passed after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Under that law, prosecutors would have to
demonstrate the crime resulted in either an
attempt to intimidate the general population
or coerce government policy. With his
opening statement, Horan made it clear
that prosecutors believe they have a case
under the new law.
Horan said prosecutors will use fingerprints found on the sniper rifle to link Malvo
to four shootings — Franklin, the slaying of
Dean Meyers in neighboring Prince William
County, the wounding of a man outside an
Ashland restaurant and the slaying of
Montgomery County, Md., bus driver
Conrad Johnson.
He also said Malvo‘s fingerprints were on
a package of raisins found at the scene of
the Ashland shooting, not far from where a
note from the snipers was recovered.
The first witness was William Franklin,
who fought back tears as he recounted his
AP Photo
AT JUVENILE COURT: John Lee Malvo is escorted into court for a preliminary hearing in Fairfax,
Va., Tuesday. Prosecutors in Virginia offered the
most extensive outline yet of their evidence
against the 17-year-old sniper shooting suspect.
wife‘s death in the parking lot of a Home
Depot store. The two had been putting
packages into the trunk of their car when
Linda Franklin was shot.
”I went to her side to see if there was anything I could do, and there wasn‘t,” her husband said. ”She had been shot through the
head.”
Malvo allegedly confessed to investigators in November when he was transferred
to Fairfax County from federal custody. But
defense lawyers have indicated they will
seek to suppress any incriminating statements Malvo may have made because he
did not have a lawyer present with him at
the time.
Muhammad is scheduled to go on trial in
October in Prince William County for the
Oct. 9 slaying of Meyers, 53, at a gas station in Manassas, Va. He could also face
the death penalty if convicted.
Wednesday, January 15, 2003