May 1, 2006 1:25 pm US/Eastern
Sniper Offers Witness List In Md. Trial
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) ―
Convicted Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad presented a last-minute handwritten list of prospective witnesses Monday as his trial got under way with jury prospects answering written questions.
Circuit Court Judge James Ryan agreed to consider witnesses on Muhammad's list who live in Maryland.
Muhammad, 45, who is acting as his own lawyer, is facing six murder charges for sniper killings in Maryland during the 2002 shooting spree. He is already on death row in Virginia, after being convicted of one sniper shooting in Manassas, Va.
Maryland prosecutors say justice demands a trial in the county that suffered the most: Six of the 10 sniper slayings were in Montgomery County, and the three-week spree began and ended there.
After the brief pretrial hearing Monday, prosecutors and Muhammad began picking from a pool of 300 potential jurors from Montgomery County. The final panel will consist of 12 jurors and four alternates.
The jury pool began answering a long list of written questions, including some about how much they know about the sniper shootings that terrorized the region for three weeks.
The proceedings were interrupted at the onset when a man in the courtroom began shouting obscenities at Muhammad before sheriff deputies escorted him out. The man, who was not arrested, told police he was a cousin of shooting victim Conrad Johnson.
Muhammad and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were linked to 10 slayings and three woundings during the string of attacks in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They also have been tied to deaths in several other states.
Malvo, 21, is serving life in prison for a shooting in Falls Church, Va. He faces trial in Maryland this fall in the Montgomery County killings.
Some have questioned whether trying Muhammad again is worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars it will cost. Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Gansler said new convictions are needed in case the Virginia verdicts are overturned.
Muhammad belatedly asked for a change of venue Friday, saying he could not get a fair trial in the county, but Ryan denied his request.
"We're going to find people who will be fair and impartial," Ryan said.
Muhammad fired his court-appointed lawyers a month ago, and though he has three standby attorneys to aid him, it will be up to him to pick which jurors he wants.
His proposed list of questions for potential jurors had included some unusual requests, such as their opinion of school uniforms and definitions of legal terms. Ryan denied those requests, but Muhammad, a convert to Islam, is being allowed to ask jurors whether they are Muslim.
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