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Judge bars cameras from Malvo trial
FAIRFAX, Virginia (CNN) -- A judge Monday prohibited the use of cameras during court proceedings for Lee Boyd Malvo, charged with killing an FBI agent during a string of sniper killings in the Washington metro area last fall. However, Fairfax County Circuit Judge Jane Maro Rouch said she will allow a closed-circuit camera to operate so people outside the courtroom can watch from a room in the county building next to the courthouse. Rouch said she was concerned about the potential prejudicial impact of television coverage on people who may be called as jurors in related trials. The 18-year-old -- who sat attentively in a green jumpsuit -- also faces charges in neighboring jurisdictions in the October shootings. Malvo, 18, is charged with the October 14 murder of 47-year-old FBI analyst Linda Franklin outside a Home Depot store in Falls Church, Virginia. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the fall trial. Earlier, neighboring Prince William County barred television cameras from covering the trial of alleged sniper John Muhammad, Malvo's companion, but didn't say whether still cameras would be permitted. A consortium of newspapers and television networks, including CNN, had sought permission to use cameras in the courtroom, citing public interest and concern for justice. Attorneys for Malvo opposed cameras, including the closed-circuit camera, saying it will be difficult for them to monitor witnesses who may view the trial at the remote location. As Rouch heard 13 motions Monday from the prosecution and defense, Malvo's attorneys said they will fight to have confessions excluded from the trial. They contend any admission by Malvo was illegally obtained, because a guardian or an attorney wasn't present during interrogation. According to prosecutors, Malvo has confessed to shooting several victims in the shooting spree. They said he "has admitted on more than one occasion that he shot Mrs. Franklin in the head," and also "admitted to killing a number of other victims." Malvo "was calm and boastful of his doings" and his admission "contains a fantastic amount of detail," prosecutors wrote in motions before the hearing. In response to other motions, the judge sided with the defense that the number of law enforcement officers in the courtroom during the trial should be limited. Attorneys said the number at the hearing -- six -- was acceptable. In addition, Rouch said defense attorneys could screen potential jurors in groups of three for sensitive questions. In other motions: • Malvo's attorneys are challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's capital murder statutes. They claim standards of "vileness" and "depravity of mind" written in the law are too vague. Prosecutors call the motion "68 pages of diatribe against the Supreme Court of Virginia." • Defense attorneys are seeking all exculpatory evidence -- evidence that would tend to acquit -- that investigators may have accumulated. Prosecutors called many of the demands a "fishing expedition." In documents filed by prosecutors, Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh repeated that Malvo and alleged accomplice Muhammad acted as a "sniper team." Malvo is charged on three counts: premeditated murder in the commission of an act of terrorism, premeditated murder of more than one person within a three-year period, and use of a firearm during a murder. Malvo and Muhammad, 42, are suspected in 20 shootings, including 13 deaths, in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. In another issue involving the sniper case, Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Chief Charles Moose will go before the county's ethics commission Monday night. Moose led the sniper task force and was the most high-profile lawman in the case. The commission will discuss whether Moose's book deal and sale of movie rights violates county ethics laws. Correspondent Patty Davis and CNN Producer Mike Ahlers contributed to this report
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