[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, ILL.

[Rick Halperin]

May 30




USA:

Jury finds Muhammad guilty in sniper trial


John Allen Muhammad was convicted of 6 of the Washington-area sniper
killings Tuesday after the prosecution's star witness, Muhammad's young
protege, portrayed him as the mastermind of an audacious terror scheme in
which phase 2 would have been bombings against children.

Muhammad, 45, is already under a death sentence in Virginia for a killing
there. The most he can get for the 6 murders committed in Maryland is life
in prison without parole.

The jury took slightly more than 4 hours to convict him after a 4-week
trial in which he acted as his own attorney.

As the verdict was read, Muhammad stood grim-faced, his arms folded across
chest. He was led out of the courtroom, pausing to ask the judge, "Your
honor, may I speak?" The judge answered, "No, sir," and Muhammad was taken
away.

10 people in all were killed and 3 were wounded in Virginia, Maryland and
Washington, D.C., in the string of shootings that gripped the metropolitan
area with fear.

The trial marked the 1st time Lee Boyd Malvo testified against the man
prosecutors say was his mentor and manipulator. And Muhammad's
cross-examination of Malvo marked one of the most dramatic moments.

During 2 days of testimony last week, Malvo, 21, gave the 1st inside
account of the shootings and described Muhammad's elaborate plans for a
reign of terror.

According to Malvo, Muhammad had a 2-phase plan - 6 shootings a day for a
month, followed by a wave of bombings of schools, school buses and
children's hospitals. Malvo said that when he asked Muhammad why, the
older man replied: "For the sheer terror of it - the worst thing you can
do to people is aim at their children."

Muhammad hoped to extort $10 million from authorities and use the money to
set up a school in Canada to teach homeless children how to use guns and
explosives and use violence to shut down other cities, Malvo said.

One of the attorneys who helped Muhammad with his defense said he was
disappointed but not surprised by the verdict. Muhammad was blocked from
presenting evidence he thought proved he was framed.

"When you give the jury only one side of the story, you can't expect them
to do anything other than what they have done," said attorney Jai Bonner.

Juror Scott Stearns, the White House correspondent for Voice of America,
said Malvo's testimony was particularly compelling. He noted that Muhammad
frequently ended his questioning of witnesses by asking if they had
eyewitness knowledge of his guilt. That question was glaringly absent from
Muhammad's cross-examination of Malvo, he said.

Muhammad was occasionally able to point out small inconsistencies in the
testimony of prosecution witnesses, but "did not successfully discredit
the case the government built against him," Stearns said.

Maryland prosecutors said they needed to put Muhammad on trial as
insurance in case his conviction in Virginia was overturned. Some of the
victims' families had also sought a second trial, seeking an explanation
for the random attacks on people as they went shopping, gassed up their
cars and mowed lawns near the nation's capital.

After the verdict, Vijay Walekar, brother of sniper victim Premkumar
Walekar, said, "I wish they had the death penalty." Walekar said of
Muhammad: "He stands up and denies everything up there. It was hard for us
to take it."

Malvo's testimony came after he agreed to plead guilty in the Maryland
killings. He gave detailed descriptions of each shooting, even pointing
out parking spaces where the sniper team's car was parked.

Aside from Malvo's testimony, Muhammad's second trial followed much of the
same blueprint as his first, with prosecutors telling jurors that Muhammad
and Malvo roamed the area in a beat-up Chevrolet Caprice, firing
.223-caliber bullets through a hole bored in its trunk.

The jury heard a torrent of evidence that linked Muhammad to the shootings
- fingerprints, DNA evidence, and ballistics tests that connected the
bullets used in the shootings to the Bushmaster rifle found in the car
when Muhammad and Malvo were arrested.

Acting as his own lawyer, Muhammad claimed he and Malvo were simply
roaming the Washington region looking for his children who had been taken
away from him in a custody battle with his ex-wife. He implied that
authorities framed him by planting evidence.

In an often testy 4-hour cross-examination, Muhammad continued to refer to
Malvo as his "son" even though the younger man tried to show during his
testimony that he was no longer under the sway of his 1-time father
figure.

Malvo, who received no leniency in return for his testimony, told jurors
he wanted to face the man who he said trained him to be a killer and
coerced him to join his murderous schemes. Malvo called Muhammad a
"coward" and, at one point, glared at Muhammad, saying: "You took me into
your house and you made me a monster."

Malvo told jurors that he shot three of the 13 sniper victims, while
Muhammad pulled the trigger on the rest. He said Muhammad was the shooter
in all but 1 of the 6 Maryland murders.

In March, Muhammad persuaded Circuit Judge James Ryan to let him defend
himself, despite statements from two psychiatrists who said he may be
mentally ill.

During closing arguments, Muhammad grew wild-eyed and sometimes shouted as
he quoted the Bible, Mark Twain and Groucho Marx.

He struggled to mount a defense, hampered by his failure to meet deadlines
on calling witnesses. He originally wanted to call hundreds of people to
the stand, but the judge limited him to just a few dozen because he failed
to follow proper courtroom procedure.

Many witnesses did not want to take part in his defense, refusing to show
up at court even though they were issued subpoenas by lawyers helping
Muhammad with his case.

In Maryland, Muhammad was charged with first-degree murder for the deaths
in Montgomery County of James Martin, Premkumar Walekar, James "Sonny"
Buchanan, Sarah Ramos, Lori Lewis Rivera and Conrad Johnson.

Maryland prosecutors originally sought a death sentence, but dropped those
plans earlier this year. Muhammad's Virginia defense attorneys and some
victims questioned whether it was necessary to reopen old psychological
wounds from more than 3 years ago.

Muhammad could still face prosecution for earlier shootings in Alabama and
Louisiana. He and Malvo are linked to other shootings in Maryland,
Arizona, Georgia and Washington state.

(source: Associated Press)






ILLINOIS:

Serial killer pleads guilty, avoids death


In Peoria, a serial killer who prosecutors say burned some of his victims
to ash and bits of bone in his mother's backyard pleaded guilty Tuesday to
killing 8 women.

Under a deal with prosecutors, Larry Bright, 39, escaped a possible death
sentence and instead will get life in prison without parole.

Four of his victims' bodies were found dumped along little-traveled roads
around Peoria in 2003 and 2004, and the remains of the others were found
in burn pits in the yard at the home he shared with his mother.

The killings and the time it took authorities to connect them and then
track down the killer caused an uproar in Peoria's black community. The
victims were black and several were prostitutes and drug addicts. Bright
is white.

Bright did not comment in court other than answering "Yes, Sir" and "No,
Sir" to the judge's questions, but in a statement read by an attorney, he
said: "I know I've committed some horrible and unthinkable acts. I am very
sorry for the grief and heartache that I have caused."

Authorities have refused to discuss a motive but say Bright was fascinated
with sex and pornography involving black women.

Bright pleaded guilty Tuesday to 7 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 count
of drug-induced homicide.

"I think it's a fair resolution," defense attorney Jay Elmore said. "This
guy is never going to see the light of day and he knows he should never
see the light of day."

(source: Associated Press)