17-year-old suspect in sniper attacks confesses

McLEAN, Va. -- Defense attorneys said Sunday they will seek to suppress a police interrogation of 17-year-old sniper suspect John Lee Malvo in which he reportedly confessed to some of the shootings.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported Sunday that Malvo admitted pulling the trigger on several of the shootings that left 10 people dead and three others seriously wounded during a three-week spree through metropolitan Washington and Virginia.

Malvo's defense lawyer, Michael Arif, criticized police Sunday for leaking the story and questioned the accuracy of what those sources told the Post.

"The police are flooding the media and poisoning the jury pool with their own paraphrasing and subjective interpretations of statements made during an unconstitutional interrogation," Arif said.

He said the leak "suggests an insecurity on the part of the commonwealth with the admissibility of these statements."

A Fairfax County police spokesman declined to comment on the interrogation, and Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. did not return calls Sunday.

Charged with murder

One of the shootings for which Malvo took responsibility is the Oct. 14 death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin. Malvo is charged with capital murder in that crime by Fairfax County prosecutors.

Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, 41, were handed over to Virginia authorities Thursday after the federal government dropped charges so the state could prosecute them on death-penalty murder charges.

Malvo was taken Thursday to Fairfax County, where he talked to investigators for seven hours before being booked at the county jail early Friday morning.

While he was being interrogated, Malvo's court-appointed guardian, Todd Petit, said he told investigators to end the questioning but was brushed aside.

Sources told the Post that Malvo was talkative and even bragged in some of his responses, but kept quiet about Muhammad.

Arif said he will seek to suppress any incriminating statement that was made during the investigation.

"If in fact those are the statements Mr. Malvo made, there will be a motion to suppress those statements, as certain as the sun rises in the east," Arif said.

Muhammad is being prosecuted in Prince William County and also faces the death penalty. It is unclear how Malvo's statement might affect Muhammad's case. His attorney, Peter Greenspun, declined to comment on the case directly, but said the interrogation of Malvo without his court-appointed representatives was wrong.

"I think everybody should be concerned about that, not just lawyers," he said.