Sniper Muhammad indicted on capital murder and five other charges

SNIPER suspect John Allen Muhammad was indicted yesterday on capital murder and five other charges in two shootings in Virginia.

The Spotsylvania Circuit Court declined to say whether the other suspect, John Lee Malvo, 17, was indicted because he is a juvenile.

The indictment charges Muhammad with the murder of Kenneth Bridges on October 11 and the wounding of an unidentified woman on October 4.

Muhammad, 41, was indicted on charges of capital murder, conspiracy to commit capital murder, attempted capital murder, aggravated malicious wounding and use of a firearm in a felony. He faces the death penalty.

The indictment comes as county, state and federal prosecutors in multiple jurisdictions work to decide who should bring the men to trial first.

Earlier, a prosecutor said Malvo may have squeezed off the shot that killed an FBI analyst in Fairfax County on October 14. That could increase the possibility that the death penalty could be brought against both suspects.

Robert Horan, Fairfax County Attorney, said there is "an equal possibility" for both suspects to have shot FBI analyst Linda Franklin in Fairfax.

"There will be evidence that the juvenile was the shooter," Horan said, but refused to provide more details.

Despite murder charges filed in Maryland against the two suspects, rival prosecutors in Virginia are circling the case with the promise that they could win death sentences against the pair.

At least two Virginia counties were prepared to seek charges yesterday against Muhammad and Malvo, the men suspected of 13 shootings that left 10 dead and terrorised Washington.

The suspects already face multiple murder charges in Maryland, and murder charges in Alabama unrelated to the sniper shootings. They also could be charged with federal extortion and murder counts that could bring the death penalty.

A 17-year-old would be eligible for the death penalty in Virginia and Alabama but not in Maryland. There is no death penalty in the District of Columbia, where one was killed.

The top elected official in Maryland's Montgomery County urged prosecutors to choose the strongest venue. "They need to present a unified front to the public and say 'here's how we're going to handle this,' and wherever the case is strongest with the stiffest penalties, that's where they need to go," Mr Douglas Duncan said.