Murder charge against Muhammad filed in death-penalty state

11.45am

WASHINGTON - A murder charge carrying a possible death sentence has been filed in Virginia against one of two suspects in the Washington sniper case, part of the legal jockeying over where the pair will stand trial and if executions would be carried out.

John Allen Muhammad, a 41-year-old Gulf War veteran, and his 17-year-old travelling companion, John Lee Malvo, already each face six first-degree murder charges in Maryland for the six killings that occurred there. Three more shooting deaths took place in Virginia and one in Washington.

The US capital does not have a death penalty statute, but Virginia and Maryland do, and have vowed to use it in this case.

"All the jurisdictions are still talking," said Roscoe Howard, US attorney for Washington. "We are working with the Maryland and Virginia authorities, and obviously the Department of Justice, we're all talking to see what will work best for the case."

Monday's indictment of Muhammad in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, stemmed from the Oct. 11 slaying of Kenneth Bridges, a Philadelphia businessman gunned down at a service station near the busy I-95 highway south of Washington.

The indictment alleges Muhammad "did unlawfully and feloniously, willfully, deliberately and with premeditation kill and slay Kenneth Bridges," and includes charges of firearms violations, malicious wounding, conspiracy and attempted murder.

Malvo was not named in this indictment. But both were charged with attempted murder, conspiracy and the commission of a terrorist act in Hanover County, Virginia, on Monday, in connection with the wounding of a 37-year-old man in Ashland, Virginia, on Oct. 19.

The two were arrested last Thursday. A three-week shooting rampage starting on October 2 killed 10 people and injured three, causing widespread fear in and around the Washington area and raising public demands the most severe punishment be sought.

More murder charges were expected in another Virginia county and federal charges were also possible.

Both Maryland and Virginia want the high-profile case, even though Maryland currently has a moratorium on executions. Maryland Governor Parris Glendening has said there is room in the moratorium to allow an execution in this case.

Maryland officials argue that because most of the victims were killed there, they should try the suspects first.

Virginia authorities maintain their state would be more likely to impose and carry out the death penalty, noting Virginia has executed 86 people since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1976. Maryland has executed three.

The two suspects are also wanted on a separate murder charge in Alabama, and authorities there have vowed to seek the death sentence.

The federal Justice Department is still pondering what, if any, charges it could file.

Justice Department officials said privately they were irked last Friday when Douglas Gansler, the Maryland state's attorney, held a news conference to announce that the first charges had been filed there.

They said it would have been more prudent for him to wait until turf battles were settled and it was clear where they had the best case.

If federal charges were brought, it was most likely the trial would be held in federal court in Maryland, where most of the murders were committed.

Possible federal charges that could carry the death penalty include extortion plus use of a weapon resulting in violent crime or death. Letters found near the site of one shooting told law officers to deposit US$10 million in a credit card account.

Prosecutors in Virginia and Maryland have indicated they have evidence that Malvo was the gunman in at least one of the shootings, but would not give details.

A material witness in the case who was taken into custody in Michigan over the weekend was expected to be moved to Maryland on Monday.

The witness, Nathaniel Osbourne, was the co-owner of a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice in which the two sniper suspects were arrested. The car reportedly was configured as a "sniper's nest" with a fold-down backseat and space for a shooter to fire through a hole in the trunk.

On another front, the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda ordered an independent panel to investigate how Muhammad got one of its passports and whether he sold forged identity documents.

- REUTERS

Further reading:
The Washington sniper

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