Sniper trial: Jury considers verdict on teenage suspect

The jury in the Washington sniper murder trial of Lee Malvo was due to consider its verdict today, after hearing closing arguments from both sides in the case.

Malvo’s lawyer told the jury in Chesapeake, Virginia, the teenager fell completely under the spell of mastermind John Muhammad when he took part in the shootings.

Michael Arif said Malvo, 18, desperate for a father figure, found the wrong man to emulate in Muhammad, 42, and eventually became “a cult of one” with Muhammad as his leader.

“Lee could no more separate himself from John Muhammad than you could separate from your shadow on a sunny day,” Arif told the jury.

“He was not the idea man. He was a puppet, moulded like a piece of clay by John Muhammad.”

But prosecutor Robert Horan said Malvo was as responsible as Muhammad, calling the pair “peas in a pod”.

“Their belief, as wild and vicious as it was, was that if they killed enough people, the government would come around” and meet their demand for 10 million, Horan said.

Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush sent the case to the jury yesterday afternoon. They picked a foreman and were sent home until deliberations were due to begin today.

Malvo’s lawyers say he was temporarily insane because of Muhammad’s brainwashing, causing him to blur the distinction between right and wrong.

Malvo is charged with the October 14, 2002, murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin during the three-week rampage that killed 10 people in the Washington DC area.

Horan urged the jury to accept Malvo’s confession to police last year. Malvo subsequently recanted, telling defence psychiatrists he confessed to being the triggerman to protect Muhammad, whom he saw as a father figure.

But Horan scoffed at Malvo’s backtracking, saying it came only after months of prodding from “the mental health crowd”.

The jury must decide Malvo was the triggerman in Franklin’s death for him to be eligible for the death penalty on one of two capital murder counts. The second capital murder count, which alleges Franklin’s death was an act of terrorism, does not require that Malvo be the triggerman.

Arif asked the jury to impose first-degree murder if they rejected the insanity defence, saying Malvo was not the triggerman and was not the one who wanted to extort the government.

Arif said the shot that killed Franklin, a head shot from 152 yards away, more likely came from Muhammad, who was an expert marksman in the US Army.

Muhammad was convicted of capital murder last month in nearby Virginia Beach. The jury recommended he be put to death for the killing of Dean Meyers at a northern Virginia petrol station.