Sniper
suspect to represent himself after firing
lawyers
VIRGINIA
BEACH, Va. (AP) -- Sniper suspect John Allen
Muhammad won the right to serve as his own
lawyer Monday in a surprise, last-minute
request at his murder trial. He broke a
year of stony silence by proclaiming his
innocence in a rambling opening statement
and asking a witness: ''Have you ever seen
me shoot anyone?''
It
was not clear why Muhammad decided to fire
his lawyers, who will serve as standby counsel
in the first trial to come out of last year's
sniper spree. Just last week, Muhammad told
the judge that he was satisfied with his
attorneys.
Muhammad's
decision to represent himself in the death
penalty case means he could end up cross-examining
his accusers, perhaps survivors of the shootings.
In
his 20-minute opening statement, Muhammad
said nothing about the shootings except
to deny involvement.
''I
know what happened. I know what didn't happen.
They're basing what they said about me on
a theory. If we monitor (the evidence) step
by step, it will all show I had nothing
to do with these crimes,'' he told the jury.
Muhammad,
42, is charged in the slaying of Dean Harold
Meyers, a 53-year-old Vietnam veteran who
was gunned down outside a northern Virginia
gas station last October.
He
was the seventh victim in a three-week shooting
spree that left 10 people dead in Virginia,
Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Muhammad
and Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, were arrested last
Oct. 24 at a highway rest stop in Maryland.
Prosecutors have said the shootings were
part of a plot to extort $10 million from
the government.
Malvo
was in the courtroom for about two minutes
Monday to allow a prosecution witness to
identify him.
Prosecutors
say Malvo has made several statements to
police and jail guards in which he confessed
involvement in many of the attacks. But
Muhammad barely spoke to investigators,
and offered only terse, one-word answers
to questions in many pretrial hearings.
Muhammad
spoke at length during his opening statement
about the nature of truth, saying at one
point, ''Jesus said, 'Ye shall know the
truth.''' He also said he hopes to be found
innocent ''by the grace of Allah.''
''There's
three truths. The truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth. I always thought
there was just one truth,'' he said. ''The
facts should help us identify what's a lie,
what's not a lie.''
He
also spoke about his children, whom he said
he ''loves very much.''
He
said he once punished his daughter for eating
chocolate cookies, only to find out later
that the daughter had not disobeyed him.
Similarly,
he said, he is being persecuted by authorities
who do not know the truth behind the sniper
spree.
Muhammad
asked the jury to pay close attention to
the facts because ''my life and my son's
life is on the line,'' apparently a reference
to Malvo. Muhammad and Malvo, 18, are not
related, but have referred to each other
as father and son.
Later,
a Manassas bank employee, Linda Thompson,
testified she saw Muhammad and Malvo outside
her bank, near the shooting scene, shortly
before Meyers was killed. Prosecutors brought
in Malvo, in an orange jumpsuit, for the
woman to identify.
Muhammad
asked the woman why she thought the two
were suspicious.
''Was
it because we was black that you remember
us?'' he asked. She denied that race was
an issue.
It
was the second time Malvo and Muhammad had
been in court together this month. At an
Oct. 1 pretrial hearing for Muhammad, Malvo
invoked his constitutional protection against
self-incrimination when asked if he knew
the fellow suspect.
On
Monday, Muhammad declined to cross-examine
the victim's brother, Larry Meyers, who
testified about Dean Meyers' life, including
his military service in Vietnam, and identified
his brother from a gruesome crime-scene
photo.
At
the end of the day, standby lawyer Jonathan
Shapiro complained that prosecutors were
improperly eliciting testimony geared to
generate sympathy for Meyers -- testimony
he said would be appropriate only at sentencing.
But Millette said Shapiro, as standby counsel,
was not permitted to make such an argument.
After
the hearing, Shapiro declined comment on
Muhammad's decision to represent himself.
The
first witness was Mark Spicer, a sergeant
major in the British army with extensive
expertise as a sniper. Muhammad objected,
saying he had been given no notice of Spicer's
testimony. Ebert said he is not required
to provide such notice, and the judge agreed.
Spicer
testified that a sniper's ''main weapon
is his ability to spread terror over a much
larger force than himself.'' He added that
snipers work in two-man teams, and that
it would be nearly impossible to be successful
working alone.
Muhammad
again unsuccessfully objected to Spicer's
testimony, saying it was irrelevant unless
Spicer could show Muhammad -- an Army veteran
of the Gulf War -- underwent the same type
of training that Spicer described.
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