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(10/11/06 4:22am)
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Convicted Washington-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is seeking a broad plea agreement in which he would plead guilty to other 2002 shootings that authorities have linked him to, defense attorneys and Maryland prosecutors said Tuesday.\nThe deal, announced as Malvo formally pleaded guilty to six Maryland murders, could be reached before his Nov. 9 sentencing for those killings. He is expected to receive six life sentences, without chance of parole, at that hearing.\nMalvo lawyer William Brennan told Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Ryan that he hoped to use the time before sentencing to "reach a global resolution to Mr. Malvo's legal problems." Asked later by reporters for specifics, Brennan would only say that he would have "candid, frank discussions with some local prosecutors."\nMontgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Gansler said such a plea deal could mean Malvo might not serve his sentence in Virginia, where he was sentenced to life for his 2003 conviction in the death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin. He also pleaded guilty to another Virginia sniper shooting.\nMalvo, 21, could plead guilty to the Oct. 3, 2002, shooting of Pascal Charlot in Washington and serve his life term in the federal system, Gansler said. Federal prosecutors handle murder cases in the District of Columbia.\nGansler said the decision rests with Virginia authorities, who agreed to let Malvo and his one-time mentor, John Allen Muhammad, come to Maryland for new trials. Under an interstate agreement, Maryland must return Malvo after his sentencing.\nKevin Hall, a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, said Kaine's staff has not had any recent discussions with Maryland prosecutors on a plea deal for Malvo. Virginia prosecutors had expressed sharp disapproval when the idea was proposed before Muhammad and Malvo's first trials in 2003.
(11/07/02 5:15am)
GREENBELT, Md. -- The attorney for John Allen Muhammad denounced the government's case against the sniper suspect, saying federal prosecutors overreached in bringing extortion charges.\nThe lawyer's remarks Tuesday came as a federal judge ordered Muhammad held without bail and investigators on the other side of the country looked into a fatal shooting to see if it's related to the sniper suspects.\nFederal prosecutors brought charges against Muhammad last week under weapons and extortion law in the October sniper attacks that killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C. area. He could get the death penalty.\nIn court, federal public defender James Wyda accused prosecutors of trying to "shoehorn this case into federal courts" in using the extortion law. He said the government is trying to prove that "these seemingly random attacks were all motivated by a crackpot scheme to collect $10 million."\nWyda noted that authorities did not even receive a note demanding the money until Oct. 19, well into the shooting spree.\n"This is no longer a murder case; this is an extortion case," he said outside court. "They can't prove extortion. They can't meet their burden of proof in making this a federal case."\nWyda also said authorities have not asked his client for a handwriting sample to attempt to link him to the note.\n"The government's case has significant problems," Wyda said. "There's no direct evidence that Mr. Muhammad was at the scene of any of these crimes."\nIn arguing against bail, federal prosecutor James Trusty told Chief Magistrate Judge Jillyn K. Schulze that Muhammad, 41, used multiple names and birth dates and had been living out of a car.\nThe other sniper suspect, 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, was ordered detained Monday after appearing at a closed juvenile hearing in federal court in Baltimore. Federal charges have also apparently been brought against Malvo, but authorities will not say so because he is a juvenile.
(10/24/02 6:46am)
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Police hunting the serial sniper issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for a 42-year-old man they believe has information about the string of terrifying shootings that have left 10 people dead in the Washington suburbs.\nMontgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said the man, John Allen Muhammad, should be considered "armed and dangerous" and that he was being sought on a federal weapons charge.\nHe also cautioned that the public should not assume Muhammad is involved in any of the shootings that have stricken the Washington area since Oct. 2.\nMoose identified Muhammad as a black male who also goes by the name John Allen Williams. He also said a juvenile may be accompanying Muhammad.\nHe did not identify the juvenile, but a law enforcement source identified him as 17-year-old Lee Malvo.\nA U.S. official in Washington said authorities were looking for two "people of interest," including one who was formerly connected to Fort Lewis, an Army base south of Tacoma, Wash., that provides some of the most intense sniper training in the U.S. military.\nA Fort Lewis spokesman said the FBI had asked for help from the base but could say nothing else.\nMoose also issued another cryptic message to the sniper:\n"You asked us to say 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' We understand that hearing us say that is important to you,'" Moose said. "Let's talk directly. We have an answer for you about your option. We are waiting for you to contact us."\nThe announcement came hours after the investigation jumped across the country. FBI agents converged on a rental home in Tacoma with metal detectors and chain saws, carting away a tree stump from the yard and other potential evidence in a U-Haul truck.\nThe FBI agents, acting on information from the sniper task force, were seeking evidence related to ammunition, a senior law enforcement official in Washington said on condition of anonymity.\nFBI agents also visited Bellingham High School, 90 miles north of Seattle, on Wednesday. Mayor Mark Asmundson told the Bellingham Herald the agents were apparently seeking information on a male teenager who once attended the school and on an older man. He said both left the area about nine months ago.\nFBI spokeswoman Melissa Mallon said the search was consented to by the property owner, but refused to say why agents were there.\n"There's no immediate danger to anyone in this neighborhood," she said.\nThe back yard was divided into grids, and agents swept metal detectors back and forth over the ground. Other crews used chain saws to remove a stump from the yard and load it onto a truck; a source said the stump would be returned to Washington, D.C., for analysis.\nPfc. Chris Waters, a Fort Lewis private who lives across the street from the home, said he called police after hearing gunshots in the neighborhood nearly every day in January.\n"It sounded like a high-powered rifle such as an M-16," he said. "Never more than three shots at a time. Pow. Pow. Pow."\nDean Resop, who lives a block away, said "quite a few tenants" had been in and out of the home.\n"Makes you want to watch your neighbors closer," said Resop, who has lived in the area seven years.\nMore than 2,000 miles away, worried parents sent their children off to schools across the Washington area with extra-tight hugs, defying the sniper's warning that children are not safe "anywhere, at any time."\nThousands of others kept their kids at home.
(10/04/02 8:16pm)
SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Five people were slain within a few miles, gunned down one by one over 16 hours in public places in Washington's suburbs, authorities said Thursday. They said there was a "strong possibility" the killings were related.\nOne of the victims was shot to death while riding a lawnmower, another while cleaning her car at a gas station.\nInvestigators had not found any indication that the five victims, killed between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday, were related in any way or had any conflict with anyone, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said.\nStill, given the timing and location, "there's a strong possibility that they are all connected," police spokeswoman Joyce Utter said.\nPolice were looking for two people in a white cargo van, possibly with damage at the back. Several witnesses told police they saw such a vehicle leaving some of the shooting scenes.\nThe first slaying happened shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday when a 55-year-old man shot in the parking lot of a Wheaton grocery store, police spokeswoman Nancy Demme said.\nThe man on the lawnmower was killed about 7:45 a.m. Thursday in the White Flint area, and another man, a cab driver, was shot around 8:15 a.m. while pumping gas at a Mobil station in the Aspen Hill area. He died at the scene.\nAbout a half-hour later, a woman died at a post office next to the Leisure World retirement community in Silver Spring.\nDolores Wallgren, who was going to a beauty shop near the post office, said she saw the victim, slumped over on a bench, bleeding from the head.\n"She was sitting on the bench, just sitting there," Wallgren said.\n"It's scary," said Lillian Ansell, another beauty shop customer. "This is a safe neighborhood. For this to happen is unusual."\nAnother woman was then shot about 10 a.m. at a Shell gas station in Kensington. Mechanics at the gas station said they heard the shots but didn't see the person or persons who killed the woman, who was vacuuming her van.\n"We didn't see any confrontation or anybody around her," mechanic John Mistery said.\nIn each case, the victim was felled by a single shot, Demme said. Ballistics tests to determine whether the same gun was used were pending, she said.\nAbout a half hour before the first shooting Wednesday, the windows of a store at a shopping center were shot at, but no one was injured, police said. The shooting may be related the fatal shootings, Demme said.\nAs of early afternoon, no new shootings had been reported after the one around 10 a.m., Demme said.\nAs a precaution, Montgomery County schools canceled all outdoor activities and locked down school buildings. No one was being allowed to leave or enter school buildings unless a parent called ahead to retrieve their children. The lockdown would remain in effect until police said it was safe to lift the restrictions, schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison said.\nMoose asked residents not to panic, especially parents, whom he urged not to rush to schools to get their children.\nSchools in Frederick County and in Fairfax County, Va., were also locked down. In Washington, a public schools spokeswoman said all outdoor activities were canceled.\nIn Fairfax County, officers were posted at the American Legion Bridge on the Capital Beltway, in case the van tries to cross into Virginia, police said.
(10/04/02 8:15pm)
SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Five people were slain within a few miles, gunned down one by one over 16 hours in public places in Washington's suburbs, authorities said Thursday. They said there was a "strong possibility" the killings were related.\nOne of the victims was shot to death while riding a lawnmower, another while cleaning her car at a gas station.\nInvestigators had not found any indication that the five victims, killed between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday, were related in any way or had any conflict with anyone, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said.\nStill, given the timing and location, "there's a strong possibility that they are all connected," police spokeswoman Joyce Utter said.\nPolice were looking for two people in a white cargo van, possibly with damage at the back. Several witnesses told police they saw such a vehicle leaving some of the shooting scenes.\nThe first slaying happened shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday when a 55-year-old man shot in the parking lot of a Wheaton grocery store, police spokeswoman Nancy Demme said.\nThe man on the lawnmower was killed about 7:45 a.m. Thursday in the White Flint area, and another man, a cab driver, was shot around 8:15 a.m. while pumping gas at a Mobil station in the Aspen Hill area. He died at the scene.\nAbout a half-hour later, a woman died at a post office next to the Leisure World retirement community in Silver Spring.\nDolores Wallgren, who was going to a beauty shop near the post office, said she saw the victim, slumped over on a bench, bleeding from the head.\n"She was sitting on the bench, just sitting there," Wallgren said.\n"It's scary," said Lillian Ansell, another beauty shop customer. "This is a safe neighborhood. For this to happen is unusual."\nAnother woman was then shot about 10 a.m. at a Shell gas station in Kensington. Mechanics at the gas station said they heard the shots but didn't see the person or persons who killed the woman, who was vacuuming her van.\n"We didn't see any confrontation or anybody around her," mechanic John Mistery said.\nIn each case, the victim was felled by a single shot, Demme said. Ballistics tests to determine whether the same gun was used were pending, she said.\nAbout a half hour before the first shooting Wednesday, the windows of a store at a shopping center were shot at, but no one was injured, police said. The shooting may be related the fatal shootings, Demme said.\nAs of early afternoon, no new shootings had been reported after the one around 10 a.m., Demme said.\nAs a precaution, Montgomery County schools canceled all outdoor activities and locked down school buildings. No one was being allowed to leave or enter school buildings unless a parent called ahead to retrieve their children. The lockdown would remain in effect until police said it was safe to lift the restrictions, schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison said.\nMoose asked residents not to panic, especially parents, whom he urged not to rush to schools to get their children.\nSchools in Frederick County and in Fairfax County, Va., were also locked down. In Washington, a public schools spokeswoman said all outdoor activities were canceled.\nIn Fairfax County, officers were posted at the American Legion Bridge on the Capital Beltway, in case the van tries to cross into Virginia, police said.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Students lit bonfires, threw bottles, climbed onto business roofs and shot off fireworks after Maryland beat Indiana to win the NCAA tournament.\nOne reveler was tackled by an ice cream shop employee when he tried to ram a police barricade through the shop's window. Another student was badly cut after getting hit in the head with a bottle.\nBonfires grew in several areas as items were tossed onto the blazes by students milling about.\nPolice were deployed in force Monday night, hoping to avoid a repeat of the violence that followed Saturday's semifinal victory against Kansas. Police promised to "aggressively arrest" people who refused to disperse.\nAuthorities said they planned to clamp down on the bonfires, which did significant damage last year after Maryland lost to Duke in the Final Four, said university police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell. One fire caused an estimated $500,000 in damage and disrupted cable service when it burned through a fiber optic line.\nWith students back from spring break Monday, officials feared post-game celebrations could be even wilder Monday night than Saturday, when police in riot gear squared off against a crowd of about 2,000 students.\nFans also threw beer bottles, ripped down street signs, broke store windows and trashed two police cruisers during the three-hour melee that spilled into early Sunday morning. Police, who drove students from the streets around 1 a.m. using pepper spray, arrested two people.\nHundreds of red-clad fans filled the seats at Cole Field House on Monday for the last Maryland game seen at the historic arena, watching the game on a huge television screen. Cole is slated to be replaced next year by a larger building.\nFans mobbed the floor as it became clear in the last few minutes that Maryland was going to win, but the scene was joyous and not raucous.\n"This is the best feeling ever," said Dave Hunt, 20.\n"It's amazing, absolutely amazing," said Sumi Moses, 23.\nIn downtown College Park, city workers removed street signs Monday afternoon along with "anything that could be used as a missile," according to Joe Nagro, the city's deputy public works director.\nSchool officials also planned to enforce a recent change in the university's code of conduct, which allows the school to discipline any students who are arrested off campus for misdemeanors.\nSeveral students were arrested on misdemeanor charges after last year's Final Four incident, but the school's code of conduct only allowed punishment for felonies, said university spokesman George Cathcart.\n"The university will take very seriously any actions by students that are illegal," Cathcart said.