Malvo identified with ‘Matrix’

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Attorneys for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo began a new phase yesterday in their insanity defense, presenting testimony that the defendant was obsessed with the revolutionary theme portrayed in the movie “The Matrix.”

Cormeta Albarus, a forensic social worker, said Mr. Malvo identified with the movie because the plot paralleled that of the sniper attacks — to spur reform of the racist system that governs the world.

Mrs. Albarus, who has interviewed Mr. Malvo regularly since March, said the defendant appeared to identify with the character Neo, who was destined to overthrow a robot society that had subjugated the human race.

She also said Mr. Malvo, 18, saw convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad, 42, as Morpheus, Neo’s mentor and trainer.

Mr. Malvo’s lawyers are expected to ask today that jurors watch a 12-minute segment of the movie, though prosecutors are likely to object.

Mrs. Albarus said Mr. Malvo thought his actions would help create the utopian commune in which 70 boys and 70 girls of different races and ethnicity would be transformed into “super-children” and sent out to reform the world.

“He felt very confident that this could be done,” she said.

Mrs. Albarus also said she was surprised by how much Mr. Malvo was “consumed by racial inequality and injustice,” considering that they both are from Jamaica, where most people are black and are governed by blacks.

The defense team is trying to convince the jury that Mr. Malvo is not guilty by reason of insanity because he was indoctrinated into Muhammad’s “extreme brand of Islam” and was under Muhammad’s complete control when participating in the assassination-style slayings.

Defense attorneys also say Muhammad convinced Mr. Malvo that the sniper attacks were part of a social war, the outcome of which would lead to a utopian commune in Canada.

The defense team also called upon David Schretlen, a clinical psychiatrist who had examined Mr. Malvo in August.

“His affect or expression of emotions seemed quite odd,” said Dr. Schretlen of Johns Hopkins University. “It was a goofy effect that seemed out of touch with the seriousness of the situation.”

Dr. Schretlen also said Mr. Malvo demonstrated average intelligence but scored near the bottom of the average range for processing information quickly and paying attention.

For example, the defendant scored unusually low in a naming test, failing to identify drawings of a harmonica, a door knocker and a stethoscope.

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