Washington sniper to be sentenced for second time

Washington sniper John Muhammad will be sentenced in Maryland today, after being convicted of another six killings.

Muhammad is expected t return to Virginia’s death row soon after he is sentenced for his second Washington area sniper conviction, but whether he will face prosecution in other states remains unclear.

Muhammad, 45, was found guilty of six October 2002 shootings by the Mryland jury on Tuesday and could be sentenced of life in prison without the possibility of parole for each murder.

Maryland prosecutors said the second trial was needed insurance in case his Virginia death sentence and conviction for a sniper shooting there was ever overturned.

But several other states and jurisdictions still have charges pending against Muhammad and his accomplice Lee Malvo for other sniper shootings. They include Louisiana, Alabama, Washington DC and Prince George’s County in Maryland.

A decision to send the pair to other states will be made by Virginia, which prosecutedthe pair first and sent them to Maryland under an agreement that they be sent back when the Maryland cases were finished.

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Virginia governor Timothy Kaine, said the two convictions may have fulfilled the desire for legal insurance.

“Mr Muhammad has been convicted now in two jurisdictions and sentenced to death in at least one of them,” Hall said. “We would consider requests from other jurisdictions, but it certainly would appear that the two verdicts insure that Mr Muhammad will pay for his crimes.”

Muhammad and Malvo, 21, were accused of shooting 13 people in the Washington region during a three-week period in October 2002. Authorities linked the Bushmaster rifle found in their car to earlier shootings in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Maryland. They are also suspects in shootings in Arizona and Washington state.

Malvo, who is expected to plead guilty to the same six Maryland murders, will probably remain in Maryland until he formally enters the plea in October.

Both men were convicted of Virginia shootings in 2003 and Malvo later pleaded guilty to other shootings in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Authorities wanted to try Muhammad for a sniper killing in Falls Church, Virginia, but had to drop the case when they missed a legal deadline.

Prosecutors in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, filed capital murder charges against Muhammad and Malvo for the Sepember 2002 shooting of Hong Im Ballenger. John Sinquefield, first assistant district attorney in East Baton Rouge Parish, said he would like to try both, but that several factors may affect that decision.

Those include the fact Muhammad already faces a death sentence and that Malvo, who was 17 when he was arrested, is not eligible for execution after the US Supreme Court struck down capital punishment for juveniles. Sinquefield said any new case could unintentionally provide legal fodder for both to use in appeals of their other convictions.

Montgomery, Alabama prosecutors charged Muhammad and Malvo with the shooting of two liquor store clerks in September 2002. Claudine Parker was killed and Kellie Adams seriously wounded by a bullet in her face. Muhammad faces another possible death sentence for those charges.

During Muhammad’s Maryland trial, Malvo said that Muhammad shot the pair from afar with the rifle, and that Malvo went up to them with a handgun to shoot them if they were not dead. He fled when confronted by police, but dropped a handgun and magazine. Authorities were able to later match his fingerprint to those found on the magazine.

Ellen Brooks, the Montgomery district attorney, said she would wait to hear from Virginia on whether the two could be sent to Alabama before deciding whether to rosecute.

A spokeswoman from the US Attorney’s office in Washington DC said no decision had been made on whether to try Muhammad and Malvo for the Otober 3 2002 shooting of Pascal Charlot.

But Prince George’s authorities, who filed attempted murder charges against both for three sniper shootings, one of a 13-year-old boy at a Bowie school, said they would not pursue the cases.

“I’m completely comfortable with the prosecutions in Virginia and now Montgomery County. I don’t think it is necessary for us to add a third layer of convictions to those defendants,” said Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey.