Sniper suspect re-requests attorneys

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad changed his mind Wednesday and stopped acting as his own lawyer at his trial after only one day of cross-examining witnesses.\nCircuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. informed the jury of Muhammad's decision after a half-hour conference at the judge's bench. Jonathan Shapiro and Peter Greenspun, who had been advising him on standby since his decision Monday, returned to their former roles as his defense lawyers.\nMuhammad had stunned the judge and even his own attorneys when he demanded the right to represent himself, just as opening arguments were to begin in his death penalty trial.\nMillette ordered Muhammad to physically distance himself from the two lawyers to minimize communications between them.\nMillette said Tuesday that Muhammad had been representing himself competently.\nAfter Wednesday's announcement, Greenspun launched a series of objections during the testimony of Chris Okupski of Trenton, N.J., who sold Muhammad the Chevrolet Caprice prosecutors believe was the vehicle used in the sniper attacks.\nGreenspun won many of his objections, something that happened only rarely while Muhammad represented himself.\nAlso on Wednesday, Millette ruled that a shooting victim, liquor store employee Muhammad Rashid of Waldorf, Md., could testify after Rashid identified Lee Boyd Malvo -- John Allan Muhammad's fellow sniper suspect -- when Malvo was briefly brought into the courtroom.\nIt was only the second time the two had been in the same courtroom; the encounter was brief, with no apparent eye contact between them.\nRashid, who was shot in the stomach outside a liquor store in Brandywine, Md., in September 2002, before the October series of sniper attacks, testified that he played dead so his attacker would not shoot him again.\n"I tried to show him that I'm expired," Rashid said.\nMuhammad's decision to represent himself had created an awkward situation Tuesday as he cross-examined another of his alleged victims, restaurant owner Paul J. LaRuffa of Clinton, Md.\nLaRuffa survived a gunshot wound to the chest Sept. 5, 2002, as he closed up his restaurant. He was robbed of $3,600 and a laptop computer. The computer was found in Muhammad's car when he was arrested.\nMuhammad began his questioning of LaRuffa by saying he meant no disrespect and that "I understand how you feel when your life is on the line." The judge admonished Muhammad for making that statement, saying it was gratuitous.\nAfter court Tuesday, LaRuffa described the cross-examination as surreal.\n"It's from the twilight zone," LaRuffa said. "Defendants aren't supposed to question you, and that's what happened."\nDuring questioning by prosecutors, LaRuffa said he had gotten into his car when he saw a figure to his left and a flash of light, and then a window broke as he was shot at close range.\n"I said I wasn't going to die," LaRuffa said. "I said, 'I'm not dying in this parking lot."