| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sniper jury could be set Wednesday, prosecutor saysMuhammad pleads not guilty to fatal shooting
From Mike Ahlers
VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- The selection of jurors could be finished far ahead of schedule in the trial of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad. Prosecutor Paul Ebert told reporters Tuesday that he hopes to have a jury selected by Wednesday, sooner than previous estimates that the process would take all week. If that happens, opening statements could begin in the next couple of days. A year after a series of deadly sniper shootings in the Washington area, Muhammad pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning in a packed courtroom in Virginia Beach. Muhammad, 42, is charged with murder and terrorism in the killing of Dean Harold Meyers on October 9, 2002, at a Sunoco gas station in Prince William County, northern Virginia. Muhammad is suspected in 13 shootings that killed 10 people during a three-week period in October 2002. Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, also has been charged in the shootings. Muhammad answered "not guilty" as a clerk read each of four charges. After answering questions about his name, birth date, age and level of education, Muhammad was asked by Circuit Judge LeRoy Millette Jr. whether he understood the charges against him. "Yes, I understand what I'm charged with," he responded. He also answered "yes" when he was asked if he was satisfied with the services of his attorney and if he was prepared to stand trial. Muhammad appeared in court for the first time in civilian clothes, wearing a white shirt and a tie, and standing with his hands clasped in front of him while answering Millette's questions. Millette moved the trial from Manassas, in Prince William County, to Virginia Beach, in the southeastern part of the state, in an attempt to find jurors who were neither personally affected by the sniper attacks nor tainted by the widespread publicity the case received. But potential jurors in Virginia Beach are unlikely to be ignorant of the case, which received much media coverage a year ago and has spawned several books and a made-for-TV movie to be broadcast Friday. "This is not going to be something where a jury sits down in a jury box with a clean slate, listens to only the admissible evidence and then makes a decision. That's not this case," said Marvin Miller, a Virginia criminal defense attorney. To help select unbiased jurors, the judge and parties to the case have established a procedure to screen the prospective panelists, weeding out those who cannot serve for six weeks -- the anticipated length of the trial -- questioning them in groups, and then questioning them individually about certain matters. Prospective jurors will be asked individually about pretrial publicity, the death penalty and whether they have personally experienced terrorism. The court summoned 134 people for possible jury duty, and 123 appeared, the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Department told CNN. Fifty-one people were excused, most because they said work pressure or physical ailments precluded them from serving a lengthy jury term. A handful of jurors said they had preconceived opinions or biases about the case that they did not feel they could put aside. None were asked what those biases were. The jurors were taken into the courtroom in groups of 40 and asked to fill out a questionnaire. The panel of 15 will consist of 12 jurors and three alternates. By law, to seek the death penalty on the murder count against Muhammad, prosecutors must prove that he committed two murders in a three-year period. The terrorism count requires proof that he terrorized the community or government. Ebert, the prosecutor, is a longtime veteran of the courtroom widely described as folksy. In a case that received national attention, he unsuccessfully prosecuted hairdresser Lorena Bobbitt for cutting off the penis of her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt. Ebert is being assisted by two deputies, James Willett and Richard Conway. Two respected criminal defense attorneys -- Peter Greenspun and Jonathan Shapiro -- are representing Muhammad. Greenspun and Shapiro have aggressively sought to defeat the charges, launching multiple challenges to Virginia's death penalty statute, seeking investigations into suspected leaks, and attempting to dismiss the case because of material contained in a book by two Washington Post reporters. But their efforts have largely been fruitless, and they suffered a significant setback last week when Millette ruled that Muhammad can't use evidence of mental health problems at any sentencing because he refused to be examined by the prosecutor's psychologist. Muhammad's trial is likely to overlap Malvo's trial, scheduled to begin November 10 in neighboring Chesapeake, Virginia. Malvo is charged in the slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Home Depot store in Falls Church, Virginia, on October 14, 2002. Last week Malvo's attorneys indicated that they would use an insanity defense at his trial. Malvo is charged with 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.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
