Posted on 10/25/2002 7:33:51 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
ROCKVILLE, Md. – Maryland will be the first state to file first-degree murder charges against two men suspected of killing 10 people and wounding three others in a three-week sniper shooting rampage that terrorized the Washington area. "As a group, the prosecutors involved in the investigation remain united in the cause to ensure that justice is served, that these men are held accountable for the acts they allegedly committed," Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas L. Gansler said Friday.
Prosecutors in Maryland are expected to file six counts of first-degree murder against John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, who are both being held in federal custody in Baltimore. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested early Thursday.
Later Thursday they were taken to Baltimore, where Malvo was arraigned in U.S. District Court as a material witness to the sniper shootings. Muhammad, an Operation Desert Storm veteran, was charged with federal firearms violations. Federal officials refused to name Malvo because of his age, but other agencies had made his name public.
Gansler said prosecutors would seek the death penalty against Muhammad. They are unable to seek the death penalty against Malvo because he is a juvenile.
Gansler made the announcement from the front steps of the Montgomery County Circuit Court after a meeting with prosecutors from counties in Virginia and the District of Columbia where some of the killings took place. Gansler said trying the case first in Maryland made sense because Montgomery County was the community "most affected and most impacted by the shootings." Six of the 10 homicides occurred in Montgomery County, with four deaths on Oct. 3 occurring within less than a two-hour time span.
"The case began, ended and was centered in Montgomery County," Gansler said.
Alabama Files Murder Charges
Alabama police officials filed murder charges Friday against Muhammad in the case of a liquor store shooting that left one woman dead and another seriously injured. Officials there said they would seek the death penalty.
Montgomery, Ala., Chief of Police John Wilson said two women were shot with a pistol just after closing the store for the evening. One woman, Claudine Parker, 52, died and Kellie Adams, 24, was seriously wounded, the chief said. Wilson said one of his officers positively identified Muhammad as the assailant found standing over the body of the slain store employee.
Laws differ among the jurisdictions regarding the death penalty. Maryland, Virginia and Alabama have the death penalty, but the District of Columbia does not. If convicted, Malvo would not face the death penalty in Maryland because it does not execute juveniles. Upon conviction, he would be eligible for the death penalty in Virginia and Alabama.
Maryland: We're Too Liberal to Execute Malvo
"Obviously we have different views in Maryland and Virginia on whether to apply the death penalty to a juvenile. We don't feel the death penalty is appropriate for juveniles," said Gansler.
"Virginia has executed 86 people since capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976 - more than any state but Texas. In the same period, Alabama has executed 23. Maryland has put just three people to death, and all executions have been suspended under a moratorium imposed in May by Gov. Parris Glendening," Fox News Channel reported.
Glendening said Friday he expected that his ban would be lifted by the time the sniper case was over.
Federal officials who are holding both men have not yet decided whether they would pursue charges against them. If they do, federal charges would supersede those filed by local jurisdictions.
Mohammad and Malvo are set to appear in federal court Tuesday.
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
No wonder Feds want Va
heard it from a Maryland Judge and Lawyer
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