Prosecutors hope to try teenager as adult in sniper case

Malvo was brought to the Fairfax County courthouse Tuesday afternoon under heavy guard for the first of an expected two days of hearings.

Prosecutors in Virginia say they have fingerprint evidence that links sniper suspect John Lee Malvo to four shootings in the Washington, D.C. area. The prosecutors are hoping to try 17-year-old Malvo as an adult. They say that he and another suspect, John Allen Muhammad, are behind 14 D.C.-area sniper attacks that took place last autumn.

The husband of a woman killed last fall outside of a hardware store in Virginia described Tuesday how his wife was gunned down, and how she became a victim of the attacks. William Franklin fought back tears as he recounted the death of his wife, Linda. "I went to her side to see if there was anything I could do, and there wasn't," he said in a report by The Associated Press.

Franklin said he and his wife were trying to fit a newly purchased bookshelf into the back of their vehicle when he heard a loud noise. Franklin said he first thought the sound was from a piece of lumber hitting the ground outside of the store. When he realized his wife had been shot, Franklin said he ran into the store and called police.

SPECIAL REPORT • Profiles: Muhammad | Malvo  • Jury sharply split in sparing Malvo • Death penalty recommended for Muhammad • Full coverage • Special Report RESOURCES • CNN.com: Sniper victim's husband describes shooting  • CNN.com: Sniper Attacks: The Legal Case  • CNN.com: Malvo likely won't be part of campaign to end juvenile death penalty  • National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Commonwealth Attorney Robert Horan Jr. said that a number of pieces of evidence linked Malvo to Franklin's killing and to an October 9 killing at a Maryland gas station, as well as the October 19 shooting of a traveler outside an Ashland, Virginia restaurant and the October 22 killing of a Maryland bus driver.

All the victims were shot by the same rifle that was found with Malvo and Muhammad when they were arrested October 24, Horan said, and he added that the rifle bore Malvo's fingerprints. Horan also said a plastic bag of raisins found near the scene of the Ashland shooting bore Malvo's fingerprint.

Investigators have determined that two phone calls to authorities -- one to Rockville, Maryland police on October 15, and another to an FBI negotiator after the Ashland shooting -- were from Malvo, according to Horan.

Malvo is facing two counts of capital murder related to Franklin's killing under two separate Virginia statutes.

One count allows the death penalty when a person commits more than one murder in a three-year period. That means prosecutors must present evidence of two different shootings at the hearing.

A second count allows the death penalty under Virginia's new anti-terrorism statute. Under that law, prosecutors would not have to prove multiple murders, nor would they have to prove that Malvo pulled the trigger in the October 14 shooting. But prosecutors would have to demonstrate the crime resulted in either an attempt to intimidate the general population or try to change government policy through force or intimidation.

If the judge determines that prosecutors have proven probable cause, Malvo would be tried in adult court, where he would face the death penalty if convicted of killing Franklin.