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Said it was pre-trial, so should be coming
up.
Jen --
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 11:28
AM
Subject: Re: [Sndbox] Bitter Divorce
Vlamed For Sniper Shootings
Does this mean that the trial is now
started?
On Wednesday, September 24, 2003, at 03:48 PM, Jen
-- wrote:
MANASSAS, Virginia (CNN)
--
Prosecutors blamed John Allen Muhammad's anger at his ex-wife Tuesday for
spurring nearly a yearlong rage of violence that ended with a series of
sniper shootings in the Washington area last fall.
Prosecutors at
a pre-trial hearing to determine what evidence will be allowed at trial for
Muhammad's part in the sniper shootings said the defendant was angry about a
court's decision to give his former wife, Mildred Green, sole custody of
their children.
Prosecutor Rich Conway said, Muhammad "became
obsessed with finding her."
Muhammad traced Green to Maryland but
then, unable to find her, "began shooting people around her," Conway
said.
Judge LeRoy Millette Jr. kept prosecutors from using threats
that Muhammad allegedly made against his ex-wife as evidence, unless a
stronger link can be established between the threats and the
shootings.
Muhammad, 42, and fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, have
been charged with 13 shootings, including 10 deaths, during a three-week
spree that terrorized the Washington area last fall. They are also suspected
or charged in shootings in Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Arizona and
Washington state.
Muhammad had previously been charged with harassing
and stalking his ex-wife and children. He was prohibited from owning a gun
or approaching his second wife, Green, by the restraining order she obtained
in 2000.
Muhammad moved to Tacoma, Washington, with Green, whom he
had married in 1988 at Fort Lewis. The couple had three children, John Jr.,
Salena and Taalibah, and operated a car mechanic business in
Tacoma.
Green was granted a divorce in 2001 based on a finding of
domestic violence by the courts.
Police in Tacoma, Washington, have
investigated the February 16, 2002, slaying of 21-year-old Keenya Cook. She
was killed with a single shot from a high-caliber handgun as she cooked
dinner in her aunt's home.
The woman's aunt, Isa Nichols, was
Muhammad's friend. Nichols told police she first met him in 1995 and even
worked as his tax accountant for his car repair business. She also told them
that when Muhammad was going through a divorce, she sided with his ex-wife
in a custody battle.
Witness points to Muhammad, Malvo
Also at Tuesday's hearing, a
chiropractor testified that an hour before a sniper shot a 13-year-old
student outside a Maryland school he saw Muhammad and Malvo sitting in a
blue Chevrolet Caprice near the middle school.
Gerald E. Driscoll
said he saw the two men October 7 near Bowie, Maryland.
Driscoll is
the first person to testify about seeing either of the alleged sniper
suspects at any of the 13 sniper shooting scenes.
Defense attorneys
attempted to cast doubt on his testimony, noting that he did not pick
Muhammad or Malvo from police photo arrays until months after their arrests.
By that time, they argued, photos of the two men had been published in
newspapers and broadcast on television scores of times.
Driscoll
testified at a pre-trial hearing for Muhammad at Prince William County
Circuit Court, at which Muhammad's attorneys challenged the validity of
several witness identifications.
Driscoll said he was driving to work
when he stopped at a red light near Benjamin Tasker Middle School. He said
he noticed two people sitting in a blue Chevrolet Caprice about 10 to 20
yards in front of him and perpendicular to him.
Driscoll said the car
was notable because it was sitting on the wrong side of the traffic island
and was not moving though he presumed it had a green light.
"He
seemed very happy, smiling, carrying on a conversation with a passenger,
joking," Driscoll said of the car's driver. In court, Driscoll identified
Muhammad as that driver.
According to Driscoll, after 10 or 15
seconds, the passenger climbed into the back seat and began fidgeting with
something.
The shooting occurred about an hour later. When Driscoll
heard about the shooting, he said, he recalled seeing the blue car, as well
as a white van several blocks earlier.
Driscoll said that about three
days after the shooting, he called police.
He testified he was "not
entirely sure" what he told police but said he believes he told them about
seeing the white van and the blue Caprice that day, as well as seeing a
young man carrying what looked like a case for a gun or pool cue near the
school several weeks before the shooting.
He said police did not get
back to him until after Muhammad and Malvo were arrested October
24.
And, he said, they did not come and interview him in person for
two or three months.
Judge LeRoy Millette Jr. ruled that police
properly conducted their photo identification process with Driscoll and said
that the information from that can be used at Muhammad's trial, which is to
start October 14.
Millette also said prosecutors could use two other
identifications, both from employees at the Silver Spring, Maryland, YMCA
who identified Muhammad and Malvo in photo lineups and said the two were
occasional visitors to the facility.
"They were nice, smiling, and
talked to me -- friendly," said Sharon Douglas, an employee at the YMCA. "I
did not think anything but [that] this was a father and
son."
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