Attorneys for sniper suspects Lee Boy Malvo and John Allen Muhammad had some success in recent pretrial rulings, after several damaging developments earlier in the case.
“We’ve had some favorable rulings on some issues,” acknowledged Craig S. Cooley, one of Mr. Malvo’s lead attorneys.
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The most significant success came last month when judges moved the trials to southeastern Virginia after agreeing that the defendants could not get a fair trial because too many potential jurors were traumatized by the shootings.
Another success was Mr. Malvo’s defense team receiving an additional $63,000 to pay investigators.
In a hearing last week, a judge told prosecutors they would have access only to the alibis related to the murders they intended to prove.
The judges have also granted defense team requests for more evidence held by prosecutors, who have strongly resisted.
During the course of the pretrial hearings, the judges granted defense attorneys access to more than 2,000 pieces of prosecution evidence.
Richard A. Conway, Prince William assistant commonwealth’s attorney, responded by saying, “The commonwealth has the highest respect for this court, but I respectfully suggest that we must avoid treating this criminal defendant differently than other criminal defendants just because these crimes were so atrocious.”
Still, he does not think the defense team received special treatment.
“Judge [LeRoy F.] Millette’s rulings have been fair and evenhanded, and they haven’t given anyone an unfair advantage,” Mr. Conway said.
Defense attorneys have also downplayed either side’s successes.
“This is a very serious death-penalty case, and the case is proceeding as we expect it to,” said Mr. Muhammad’s attorney, Peter D. Greenspun.
Mr. Cooley said the pre-trial rulings “don’t give us much insight” into what the jury will ultimately decide.
“You certainly try to get rulings that put you in the best position to defend the case,” he said. “But the rulings by the judge really do not give much insight.”
Still, the defense teams were not successful in the early proceedings.
They lost motions to dismiss the case, to suppress damaging testimony by Mr. Malvo and to get more money.
The attorneys also failed to persuade the courts to strike down Virginia’s untested anti-terrorism statute, under which both defendants are charged.
However, Mr. Cooley said he and fellow defense attorney Michael S. Arif plan to challenge the statute’s constitutionality in the coming weeks.
Virginia lawmakers passed the statute after the September 11 attacks to target “evil masterminds” of terrorist attacks such as Osama bin Laden.
Mr. Malvo, 18, and Mr. Muhammad, 42, have been linked to last October’s string of random shootings that killed 10 persons and injured three others in the Washington area. The suspects could face the death penalty if convicted.
Mr. Malvo is being tried in the Oct. 14 shooting death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Home Depot in Falls Church. The trial was moved from Fairfax to Chesapeake City, Va.
Mr. Muhammad is being tried in the Oct. 9 shooting death of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, at a gas station in Manassas. His trial was moved from Prince William County to Virginia Beach.
Mr. Malvo’s attorneys hope their success continues this month when Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Jane Maroum Roush is expected to rule on two significant motions.
The judge is being asked to suppress testimony by two guards at the SuperMax federal prison in Baltimore, where Mr. Malvo was held after his capture and where he purportedly made several damaging statements to the guards.
Mr. Malvo purportedly told the guards he shot 13-year-old Iman Brown outside his school in Bowie to send a message and to upset then-Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose, who was the public face of the sniper investigation.
“It worked didn’t it? He was crying on TV,” Mr. Malvo said, according to testimony.
Mr. Malvo’s defense team has also asked for a full accounting of the prosecution’s funding, an effort to get the same amount of federal money as state prosecutors.
“We feel like we have to go to the federal government and seek some funds in the defense that the state doesn’t provide for,” Mr. Cooley said. “That’s important.”
However, Mr. Cooley said he is ready to accept whatever Judge Roush rules simply as the next step in the process. “She takes each motion on its own merits and makes a decision on what she thinks is the proper ruling,” he said.
Mr. Greenspun also said that he hopes to block the publication of Mr. Moose’s book about his role in the sniper investigation, which is scheduled to be released one month before Mr. Muhammad’s trial begins.
“We feel very strongly that it’s just wrong for this book to come out a few weeks before the trial, but Mr. Moose will do what he wants to do for his pecuniary benefit,” Mr. Greenspun said.
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