Muhammad denies being Washington sniper

11.45am

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia - Sniper suspect John Muhammad, acting as his own lawyer in his murder trial on Monday, denied involvement in the series of 10 seemingly random shooting deaths that gripped the Washington area a year ago.

"The evidence, if we monitor step by step ... it will show that I had nothing to do with these crimes ... Right now my life and my son's life is on the line," Muhammad said in a rambling half-hour opening statement.

The unexpected presentation by Muhammad, on trial on murder, terrorism, conspiracy and weapons charges in the Oct. 9, 2002, shooting death of 53-year-old Dean Meyers, came shortly after he made a surprise request to represent himself.

If convicted, Muhammad, a 42-year-old Gulf War veteran, could be sentenced either to execution or to life in prison without parole. Judge LeRoy Millette said Muhammad would be treated as any other attorney.

His young travelling companion, Lee Malvo, then 17, has been linked to the same 13 shootings in the Washington area last October. While the two were often taken for father and son, it was unclear if Muhammad was referring to Malvo, who faces trial on a separate murder charge next month in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Muhammad said, "These people told me to ... be quiet, go to jail and you not going to say nothing. And that's what I did."

"I was locked up based on a theory, I was denied bail based on a theory ... to dehumanise me first, attack my family, attack me directly and indirectly ... from people who don't know what happened."

Prosecutor James Willett began his presentation by setting a .223 Bushmaster on the table, the very automatic rifle retrieved when Muhammad and Malvo were arrested last year.

"It is a weapon that is best fired from the prone position," Willett said, picking up the gun in both hands, noting that the butt of the rifle and two legs formed a stable tripod. "If you are on the ground or on a surface, say, the trunk of a car, this weapon becomes extremely safe and extremely accurate."

He also displayed photographs of a blue Chevrolet Caprice in which Muhammad and Malvo were arrested on Oct 24, 2002. Willett said the car was set up as a sniper's nest, with a hole cut in the back of the boot to allow the muzzle of a rifle to protrude.

"The Caprice allowed them with impunity to travel where they wanted, park where they wanted and kill who they wanted," Willett said.

Muhammad's trial was moved from Manassas, Virginia, where the crime occurred, to Virginia Beach in search of a jury not affected by the deadly shooting rampage that claimed 10 lives and wounded three others in and around the nation's capital.

The 15-person jury seated last week comprises 10 woman and five men.

Malvo, now 18, was expected to appear at Muhammad's trial, not as a witness -- at a pre-trial hearing where the two were in the same room for the first time since their arrest, Malvo did not even acknowledge knowing Muhammad -- but so that witnesses can identify Malvo. He was not in the courtroom during opening statements.

While the killings occurred in Maryland and Washington, as well as Virginia, US Attorney General John Ashcroft chose the commonwealth for the first two trials because it offered the possibility of the death penalty for both defendants.

In addition, one of the murder counts against Muhammad is an anti-terrorism law crafted after the Sept 11, 2001, hijack attacks. Under this law, Muhammad could be convicted of murder even if he did not pull the trigger in the Manassas killing.

- REUTERS