Murder trial of sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo goes to jury

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

Defense attorney 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 F. 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.

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'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.

"Their willingness to kill, and do it for money, is common to both of them," he said.

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.

Horan urged the jury to accept Malvo's confession to police last year. Malvo subsequently recanted, telling defense psychiatrists he confessed to being the triggerman to protect Muhammad, whom he saw as a father figure.

But Horan scoffed at Malvo's backtracking, saying it came only after months of prodding from "the mental health crowd."

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.

Roush ruled Tuesday that the jury will not be permitted to consider whether Malvo was acting under an "irresistible impulse."

Roush said Malvo could still go forward with his insanity defense, but denied his lawyers' request to give the jury instructions on how an irresistible impulse relates to insanity.

The law states that if a criminal cannot control an irresistible impulse, he could be considered legally insane.

Muhammad, 42, was convicted of capital murder last month in nearby Virginia Beach. The jury recommended he be put to death for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a northern Virginia gas station.