Sniper 'not competent' to stand trial over killings

John Allen Muhammad, due to be tried in May for six sniper killings in Montgomery County, in 2002, is “psychotic, delusional and paranoid,” and is not competent to stand trial or represent himself, according to a motion filed before a US court.

Muhammad was to appear in court in Rockville, Maryland, today on his request to fire his defence lawyers and represent himself at trial.

His lawyers filed the motion and a psychiatric evaluation with Montgomery Circuit Court yesterday.

Dr Dorothy Lewis, a Yale University psychiatrist, interviewed Muhammad twice in September 2003 and for four hours on Monday, The Washington Post reported.

She wrote in the evaluation that Muhammad’s judgment and ability to think logicaly were “severely compromised” by brain dysfunction and that he probably suffered from “schizo-affective schizophrenia”.

During Monday’s interview, Muhammad seemed paranoid, the psychiatrist wrote.

He claimed that his lawyers were withholding information that was important to his defence and told her: “It was never my intention to be represented by an attorney.”