Sniper suspect represents himself

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad won a surprise request Monday to represent himself at trial and delivered a rambling opening statement in which he quoted Jesus and spoke about the meaning of truth.\n"One of the things we're here for today is to find out what everyone wants to know. What happened?" Muhammad told the jury in his capital murder trial.\n"There's three truths. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I always thought there was just one truth," he said. "Jesus said, 'Ye shall know the truth.'"\nMuhammad, wearing a suit and tie, told a story about how he punished his daughter for eating chocolate cookies, only to find out later that the daughter had not actually disobeyed him. He said he is similarly being persecuted by authorities who don't know the truth behind the sniper shootings.\n"I know what happened. I know what didn't happen. They're basing what they said about me on a theory," he said. "If we monitor step by step, it will all show I had nothing to do with these crimes."\nHe said he hopes to be found innocent "by the grace of Allah."\nMuhammad, 42, is charged in the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, a 53-year-old Vietnam veteran gunned down outside a northern Virginia gas station last October. He was the seventh victim of a three-week shooting spree that left 10 people dead in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.\nFifteen days after Meyers' slaying, Muhammad and 18-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested at a highway rest stop in Maryland. Prosecutors have said the shootings were part of a plot to extort $10 million from the government.\nThe first prosecution witness called Monday was Mark Spicer, a sergeant major in the British Army with expertise as a sharpshooter.\nMuhammad objected, saying he had been given no notice of Spicer's testimony. Prosecutor Paul Ebert said he is not required to provide such notice, and the judge agreed.\nSpicer testified that a sniper's "main weapon is his ability to spread terror over a much larger force than himself." Snipers work in two-man teams, and it would be nearly impossible for them to successfully working alone, he said.\nThe trial started nearly an hour late as Muhammad's request to represent himself was discussed in Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette's chambers. The request came as a surprise. Just last week, Muhammad had told the judge that he was satisfied with the work of his attorneys.\nOnce in the courtroom, Millette immediately called a bench conference with Muhammad and defense and prosecuting attorneys.\nMuhammad and Millette spoke to each other for more than five minutes before the judge announced that defense lawyers Peter Greenspun and Jonathan Shapiro would only be assisting Muhammad.\n"His attorneys are now what is known as standby counsel," Millette told the jury. He did not explain why Muhammad chose to represent himself.\nThe victim's brother, Larry Meyers, later said he didn't know what to make of Muhammad's opening statements. "At this point all we basically have is his theory about what happened," he said.\nAs the trial got under way, assistant prosecutor James Willett began his opening statement by silently assembling a Bushmaster rifle, apparently the same one authorities believe was used in the attacks.\nHe briefly addressed Muhammad's decision to represent himself, saying: "It is an unusual but not unheard of thing for someone in his position to do. The court felt he did have at least the basic ability to represent himself."\nWillett then explained the importance of a spotter's role in a sniper shooting, an important issue in the case.\nDefense lawyers have argued that Malvo fired the shot that killed Meyers on Oct. 9, 2002. Because of that, the defense argues, Virginia law prohibits imposing the death penalty against Muhammad on one of the two capital murder counts he faces.\nProsecutors say Muhammad's role in the shooting was so direct that he might as well have pulled the trigger.\nWillett showed the jury a diagram of the intersection where Meyers was shot and how the fatal shot came from across the street.\n"It was a distance of about 80 yards," Willett said. "You can see how important a spotter would be."\nWillett outlined 16 shootings, including 10 deaths, which he plans to link at trial to Muhammad and Malvo. He also said Muhammad may have hit various jurisdictions so more local governments would contribute to a ransom pool.\nProsecutors have not spelled out the order of their witnesses or evidence, but Malvo is expected to appear. He was flown to the jail in Virginia Beach on Sunday from northern Virginia, where he has been jailed, and has orders to appear in court, said Paula Miller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office.\nProsecutors would not say why Malvo was summoned. He had refused to testify at a recent hearing in Muhammad's case and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.\nMalvo's trial -- in the Oct. 14, 2002, shooting death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin -- begins Nov. 10 in Chesapeake.\nBoth trials were moved to southeast Virginia after defense lawyers argued that every northern Virginia resident could be considered a victim because of the fear the shootings inspired. The suspects are being tried in Virginia first because of the state's strong death penalty laws. Virginia has executed 89 people, second only to Texas, since the U.S. Supreme Court permitted the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976.\nExperts have said the military ties and backgrounds of the jurors chosen in Muhammad's trial are likely to favor the prosecution in his case. The jury includes a retired Navy pilot, the spouse of a retired Navy mechanic, an Air Force retiree whose husband also was in the Air Force, and a former Navy officer whose husband retired from the Navy.