Federal charges filed against sniper suspect Muhammad

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department filed federal charges Tuesday against sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, accusing the 41-year-old former Army soldier of committing murder as part of an extortion scheme. Six of the 20 charges could carry the death penalty.

The federal filing disclosed new details of what investigators discovered in the 1990 Chevrolet Caprice that Muhammad and his companion, John Lee Malvo, 17, were sleeping in when they were apprehended last Thursday at a rest stop in Maryland. A Sony laptop computer, global positioning system, a pair of two-way radios, a bolt cutter and a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle linked to most of the shootings were in the car, court records show. The laptop conceivably could yield information about the pair's connections, if any, to terrorists, which was an object of considerable speculation when they were at large.

A brown cotton glove was stuffed into a hole in the Caprice's trunk. It matched another found at the scene in Aspen Hill, Md., where the sniper killed a bus driver Oct. 22, according to court papers. Authorities suspect that Muhammad fired from the hole cut into the trunk, which would help him remain undetected.

The court papers said Muhammad referred to his teenage companion as "sniper," according to an acquaintance in Tacoma, Wash., where he has been linked to a February killing at the home of a relative. The filing does not name that companion.

The 20-count federal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md. It ratchets up the competition over who will take the lead in prosecuting the sprawling sniper case, which spans eight counties in four states, as well as the District of Columbia.

Capital murder charges already have been filed against Muhammad in Virginia and Maryland, where nine of the 10 Washington-area killings were committed. The 10th was in the District of Columbia.

Capital murder charges also have been filed against Malvo in Virginia. In Maryland, he has been charged with first-degree murder. The federal affidavit filed Tuesday does not mention Malvo. Because he is a juvenile, he cannot be executed under federal charges. Virginia and Alabama laws would permit him to face the death penalty, but Maryland's would not.

'The ultimate sanction'

Legal experts say the federal government, which has the pair in custody, could trump the states and prosecute first if it chose to.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday that no decision had been made on which jurisdiction should get the case first. He labeled the alleged crimes "atrocities." "I believe the ultimate sanction ought to be available here," Ashcroft said, referring to the death penalty.