Officer spoke to shooting suspect but let him go

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A policeman spoke to sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad just a half-hour after the shooting for which he is on trial, but let him go as the officer tried to deal with angry, panicked drivers trying to leave the scene, a jury at Muhammad's murder trial was told Tuesday.

Prince William officer Steven Bailey testified that Muhammad was "very polite and very courteous" when they spoke at a restaurant parking lot where police believe the snipers fired the shot that killed Dean Harold Meyers on Oct. 9, 2002.

"I didn't catch on. I wish I had," Bailey said on cross-examination.

Muhammad is serving as his own lawyer.

Police have said they had several encounters with the sniper suspects during the killing spree that terrorized the Washington area, but the manhunt was focused on a white van thought to be the sniper vehicle.

Bailey said he faced a difficult situation in which he interviewed every driver leaving the parking lot, preventing people from leaving who were scared to be at the scene.

"We were having problems with people getting irate, wanting to leave the scene," he said.

Muhammad asked Bailey, "Did you ever see me with a weapon?" and Bailey responded "No." Muhammad has asked similar questions of many witnesses in the case.

Bailey also testified that he found a Baltimore map book in the restaurant parking lot, which was later determined to have Muhammad's fingerprints on it. The map book is one of the few pieces of physical evidence linking Muhammad to the Manassas crime scene.

Muhammad, 42, and fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, are charged with 13 shootings, including 10 deaths, over a three-week span last October in the Washington area. They are also suspected or charged in shootings in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona and Washington state.

Muhammad's trial took a surprising turn Monday when he was granted the right to serve as his own lawyer.

But prosecutors complained Tuesday that Muhammad's court-appointed attorneys are playing too large a role in the case. Muhammad made his opening statements and has questioned witnesses, but his attorneys were allowed to stay at his side to provide assistance.

"It's apparent the defendant cannot act as his own counsel," said assistant prosecutor Richard Conway. "The current situation is intolerable."

Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. agreed that Muhammad was getting too much help, saying the defense lawyers should only interact with Muhammad when he specifically requests for help. Muhammad agreed to physically separate himself from his standby lawyers to reduce communication.

So far, though, Millette said Muhammad "appears to be competently representing himself, appears to be asking questions appropriately, seems to understand his legal rights."

Court began Tuesday with Muhammad withdrawing a request that might have allowed him to introduce mental health evidence at his trial.

"I've changed my mind on that," Muhammad told Millette at the start of the trial's sixth day.

Muhammad has been barred from presenting any mental health evidence on his behalf because he refused to meet with prosecutors' mental health expert. On Monday, he had asked Millette to reconsider that ruling in hopes of using it as mitigating evidence at sentencing if he is convicted.

A witness to the shooting of Meyers testified that he heard the shot and saw Meyers as he lay in a pool of blood beside a gas pump.

He immediately assumed it was a sniper shooting and told prosecutor Paul Ebert that he "went inside the store, dug down. We felt unsafe, scared." The testimony could bolster the prosecution's theory that the sniper shootings amounted to acts of terrorism.

On cross-examination, Muhammad asked the witness, Jason Salazar, "Can you recall seeing me at the area?" Salazar said he couldn't.

Medical examiner Frances Field testified that Meyers died from a single gunshot would that entered behind his left ear and then fractured his skull into more than a dozen pieces.

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Associated Press writer Sonja Barisic contributed to this report.