MANASSAS — A Prince William County judge yesterday pushed back the sentencing date for convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad to March 10, the same day convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo will be formally sentenced.
Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. agreed to postpone the Feb. 12 date because Jonathan Shapiro, one of Muhammad’s attorneys, will be in Europe.
By law, the judge can either uphold the jury’s recommended death sentence or reduce it to life in prison without parole. Judge Millette is expected to follow the jury’s recommendation.
Muhammad, 43, appeared in court for the first time yesterday since a Virginia Beach jury recommended he be sentenced to death in the Oct. 9, 2002, fatal shooting of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, at a Manassas gas station.
Muhammad entered the courtroom slowly, stared down at the court reporter, greeted his attorneys, then sat down at the defendant’s table and folded his hands in front of his face.
He wore an orange jumpsuit and jail-issued blue shoes. His feet were shackled. His hair was long and bushy and he sported a goatee. Muhammad had been neat and cleanly shaven during his trial when a jury was present.
During yesterday’s brief hearing, Judge Millette also scheduled a post-trial motions hearing for Feb. 20. Mr. Shapiro and fellow defense attorney Peter D. Greenspun will file motions appealing the jury’s dath-sentence recommendation by Feb. 6. They have not said what specific motions they will file, but they likely will argue the legitimacy of Muhammad’s conviction and begin laying the groundwork for an appeal.
It is still not clear whether Gov. Mark Warner will allow other states or jurisdictions to try Muhammad or Malvo. Mr. Warner may decide to send Muhammad to Fairfax County and Malvo to Prince William, where each man would again stand trial on capital murder charges. Malvo, 18, is remains jailed in Fairfax County after being sentenced to life in prison by a Chesapeake, Va., jury.
Future trials would have to be moved out of the area again, most likely to locations other than the Hampton Roads area, since potential jurors there and in Northern Virginia have been inundated with news coverage of the sniper crimes and the trials.
Mr. Warner said Thursday he will make a decision before the two sentencing hearings take place in March.
Mr. Shapiro said it is “political ambition and bloodlust” that is driving the quest to prosecute Muhammad and Malvo again.
Several jurisdictions, including Montgomery, Ala.; Baton Rouge, La.; and Montgomery County, Md., have said they want to try both men who have been linked to the 13 random shootings that killed 10 and wounded three in the Washington area sniper spree in October 2002.
Muhammad was convicted Nov. 17 on two counts of capital murder in Mr. Meyers’ slaying.
Malvo was convicted Dec. 18 on two counts of capital murder for the Oct. 14, 2002, fatal shooting of Linda Franklin, 47, at the Falls Church Home Depot.
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