WASHINGTON - A murder charge carrying a possible
death sentence was filed in Virginia on Monday 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 traveling 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 U.S. 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, U.S. 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.
PREMEDITATED MURDER
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 Oct. 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 Gov. 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.
FEDERAL CHARGES POSSIBLE
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 $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 a passport from the Caribbean nation and whether
he sold forged identity documents.