Second jury convicts sniper for shooting spree

WASHINGTON sniper John Allen Muhammad was convicted of six more of the killings yesterday after a trial in which he acted as his own attorney and the prosecution’s star witness was his young protege and partner in crime.

Muhammad, 45, is already facing a death sentence in Virginia for a killing there. The most he can get for the six Maryland slayings is life in prison without parole.

The jury took slightly more than four hours to convict him after a four-week trial.

The trial marked the first time Lee Boyd Malvo testified against the man prosecutors say was his mentor and manipulator. During two days of testimony last week, Malvo, aged 21, gave the inside account of the shootings and described Muhammad’s plans for a reign of terror.

According to Malvo, Muhammad planned two phases of attacks — six shootings a day for a month, followed by a wave of bombings of school buses and children’s hospitals. Malvo said when he asked Muhammad why, the older man replied: “For the sheer terror of it — the worst thing you can do to people is aim at their children.”

Muhammad hoped to extort $10 million (€7.7 million) and use the money to set up a school in Canada to teach homeless children how to use guns and explosives, Malvo said.

Maryland prosecutors said they needed to put Muhammad on trial in case his conviction in Virginia was overturned.

Some of the victims’ families had also sought a second trial, seeking an explanation for the random slayings that targeted people in parking lots and filling stations near the US capital.

Ten people in all were killed, and three wounded, in Virginia, Maryland and Washington.

Malvo’s testimony came after he agreed to plead guilty in the Maryland killings.

He gave detailed descriptions of each shooting.

Aside from Malvo’s testimony, Muhammad’s second trial followed much the same blueprint as his first, with prosecutors telling jurors Muhammad and Malvo roamed the area in a Chevrolet Caprice, firing .223-calibre bullets through a hole bored in its trunk.

The jury heard evidence that linked Muhammad to the shootings — fingerprints, DNA evidence, and ballistics tests that connected the bullets used in the shootings to the Bushmaster rifle found in the car when Muhammad and Malvo were arrested.

Acting as his own lawyer, Muhammad claimed he and Malvo were simply looking for his children who had been taken away from him in a custody battle with his ex-wife.

He implied authorities framed him, planting evidence.

Malvo, who received no leniency for his testimony, said he wanted to face the man who coerced him to join his murderous schemes.

Malvo told jurors he shot three of the 13 victims, while Muhammad pulled the trigger on the rest.

He said Muhammad was the shooter in all but one of the six Maryland murders.

In March, Muhammad persuaded Judge James Ryan to let him defend himself, despite statements from two psychiatrists who said he may be mentally ill.

During closing arguments, Muhammad grew wild-eyed and sometimes shouted as he quoted the Bible, Mark Twain and Groucho Marx.