Sniper suspect ends stint as own lawyer

SNIPER suspect John Allen Muhammad changed his mind yesterday and stopped acting as his own lawyer at his trial after only one day of cross-examining witnesses.

Circuit Judge LeRoy F Millette Jnr informed the jury of Muhammad’s decision after a half-hour conference at the judge’s bench. Jonathan Shapiro and Peter Greenspun, who had been advising him on standby since his decision on 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, just as opening arguments were to begin in his death penalty trial.

He is being tried on murder charges related to the killing of Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot at a northern Virginia gasoline station during the series of attacks last October around the Washington metropolitan area in which 10 people were killed.

Prosecutors complained about Muhammad’s self-representation on Tuesday 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.

Millette ordered Muhammad to physically distance himself from the two lawyers.