Jury picks foreman in trial of sniper suspect Malvo

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 16, 2003

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The jury in the murder trial of Lee Boyd Malvo got the case Tuesday after his lawyer argued the teenager was completely under the spell of mastermind John Allen Muhammad when he took part in the Washington, D.C., sniper shootings.

Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush sent the case to the jury just after 4 p.m. Tuesday. They picked a foreman and were sent home until deliberations begin this morning. Malvo is charged with the Oct. 14, 2002, slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin during a three-week rampage in the Washington, D.C., area.

Defense lawyer Michael Arif said Malvo, desperate for a father figure, found the wrong man to emulate in Muhammad and eventually became "a cult of one," with Muhammad as his leader.

"Lee could no more separate himself from John Muhammad than you could separate from your shadow on a sunny day," Arif told the jury.

But prosecutor Robert Horan Jr. said Malvo was as responsible as Muhammad, calling the pair "peas in a pod."

"Their belief, as wild and vicious as it was, was that if they killed enough people, the government would come around" and meet their demand for $10 million, Horan said.

Malvo’s attorneys have argued the 18-year-old was temporarily insane because of Muhammad’s brainwashing, causing him to blur the distinction between right and wrong.

In closing arguments, Arif told the jury that Malvo was "the last victim of John Muhammad."

But Horan said Malvo and Muhammad both share the blame.

The jury must decide Malvo was the triggerman in Franklin’s death for him to be eligible for the death penalty on one of two capital murder counts. The second capital murder count, which alleges Franklin’s death was an act of terrorism, does not require that Malvo be the triggerman.

Muhammad, 42, was convicted of capital murder last month.

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