John Muhammad guilty of murder

Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, center, stands as he listens to guilty verdicts on all four charges against him in courtroom 10 at the Virginia Beach Circuit Court on Monday in Virginia Beach, Virginia. PHOTO: AFP

A jury on Monday found Gulf War veteran John Muhammad guilty on two counts of capital murder for last year's string of sniper shootings that killed 10 people and terrorized the Washington area.

Muhammad convicted of one of the killings and also on conspiracy and a weapons charge. He faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

The 42-year-old former soldier stood as the verdicts were read after six-and-a-half hours of deliberation, then sat impassively at the defense table, leaning his chin on his hand.

After a break, the jury began to consider Muhammad's punishment.

"All in all, we reserve the ultimate punishment -- the death penalty -- for the worst of the worst," prosecutor Richard Conway told jurors. "Folks, he still sits right in front of you without a shred of remorse."

But defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro worked to humanize Muhammad by offering "a little glimmer of how he got to this point," describing him as a wonderful father, a proud soldier and a man who had loyal friends.

"Put John Muhammad in a box of one sort or another: one is made of concrete, one is made of pine," Shapiro told the jury, referring to a prison cell or a coffin.

Muhammad convicted on all charges -- two capital murder counts, a charge of conspiracy and one of using a firearm in committing a felony -- in the death of Dean Meyers, who was gunned down on Oct. 9 last year outside Manassas, Virginia.

Each of the capital murder counts carries a possible death sentence or a life prison term. The jury must also decide Muhammad's sentence on the conspiracy count, which could bring a prison term of 10 years and a fine of up to US$100,000. They will not decide the penalty on the weapons charge, which carries a mandatory three-year prison sentence.

One murder conviction found Muhammad committed multiple murders, including that of Meyers and one other person, within a three-year period. The other found that Muhammad committed murder as an act of terrorism, a violation of Virginia's new anti-terror law, enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

During the month-long trial, prosecutors led the jury on a tour of the sniper shootings that gripped the area in and around the US capital for 23 days in October last year.

Thirteen random shootings, including 10 killings, created a climate of fear that pervaded Washington and its suburbs in Virginia and Maryland.

A portion of the hundreds of exhibits presented at Muhammad's trial -- including a .223 Bushmaster rifle -- will be used by prosecutors in the trial of Muhammad's 18-year-old alleged accomplice, Lee Malvo, in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Malvo, who was 17 when the crimes were committed, is being tried as an adult and could also face the death penalty.

In Muhammad's case, lawyers for both sides wrangled over what may be presented in the next phase of the trial.

Judge LeRoy Millette ruled prosecutors can bring in information about an escape attempt they say Muhammad made during his incarceration, so they can argue this gives a clue to what kind of prisoner he might be if sentenced to life.

Except relatives of Meyers, victims or their families are barred from testifying during the penalty phase.

Prosecutors portrayed Muhammad as a controlling, cold-blooded killer who molded Malvo into an expert sniper.

Muhammad's noted the circumstantial nature of the prosecution case and questioned the authority of expert witnesses who testified about sniper technique and ballistic evidence linking Muhammad to the murder weapon.

Both trials were located some 320km to the southeast of Washington's Virginia suburbs in search of unbiased juries.

The penalty phase in the Muhammad case was to resume yesterday. Attorneys estimate it could take four days.