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Sniper suspect cross-examines shooting survivor
« on: Oct 22nd, 2003, 9:22am » |
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Sniper defendant reverses course, now chooses attorneys to defend him
Wednesday, October 22, 2003 Posted: 10:17 AM EDT (1417 GMT)
VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- John Allen Muhammad, one of two people accused of being behind the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks, will no longer represent himself.
The announcement came Wednesday following a bench conference between Muhammad and his attorneys.
In the first two days of his trial in Virginia, Muhammad had been representing himself. It put him in the position of cross-examining a person he'd been accused of wounding in one of
the sniper attacks.
On Tuesday a restaurant owner shot during last year's sniper shooting spree was cross-examined Tuesday by Muhammad.
Prosecutors were prepared to present evidence from another Maryland shooting when the trial resumed Wednesday morning.
Paul J. LaRuffa told jurors Tuesday how he was shot and robbed on September 5 of last year, a shooting that prosecutors say was linked to last year's sniper spree that claimed 10 lives. LaRuffa wiped away tears as he recounted the experience.
Then LaRuffa found himself being cross-examined Tuesday by Muhammad. Muhammad, who is acting as his own lawyer, began questioning LaRuffa by saying he meant no disrespect and that "I understand how you feel when your life is on the line." LaRuffa, who initially looked away from Muhammad, did not respond, The Associated Press reported.
After court, LaRuffa described the cross-examination as surreal.
"It's from the twilight zone," LaRuffa said in an AP report. "Defendants aren't supposed to question you, and that's what happened."
The exchange capped a dramatic day of testimony in Muhammad's trial in which a police officer told jurors he saw and spoke to Muhammad in the immediate aftermath of one of the sniper shootings, but let him go. There were four subsequent sniper attacks.
Muhammad, 42, faces a murder charge for the death of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, who was gunned down at a Sunoco gas station in Manassas, Virginia. on October 9, 2002. He could face the death penalty if prosecutors show that he murdered at least two people in a three-year period.
'I'm not going to die in this parking lot'
LaRuffa, the owner of an Italian restaurant in Clinton, Maryland, recounted the evening he was shot; he was preparing to get in his car and drive home when the shooting occurred, he testified.
"Almost immediately, I saw a figure to my left. I saw a flash of light, the window broke. I heard shots. I was being shot," he told the court.
As he bled in the vehicle, he said, "I raised up in my seat. I leaned on the horn. ... I said I'm not going to die in this parking lot in Clinton, Maryland."
LaRuffa's bloody T-shirt was displayed to the court, and jurors also heard a 911 tape from the incident in which LaRuffa could be heard yelling in the background, "I don't want to die right here."
LaRuffa was wounded in the chest and arm, and robbed of $3,500 and a laptop computer. Prosecutors allege the money was used by Muhammad and his co-conspirator, Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, to buy the Chevrolet Caprice that the two used during their alleged shooting rampage. When the two were arrested last fall, prosecutors say the stolen laptop was found in their vehicle.
Prosecutors complained to the judge about Muhammad's introductory remarks to LaRuffa, saying they were gratuitous and intended to curry favor with the jury. Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. told Muhammad to stick to questions.
Officer recounts questioning defendant
Muhammad has insisted he was not involved in the string of shootings that terrorized the Washington area a year ago. Prosecutors say he and Malvo were responsible for a series of sniper shootings that left 10 people dead and three wounded.
Prosecutors said they would present evidence linking Muhammad and Malvo to 16 shootings, including incidents in Montgomery, Alabama, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Earlier Tuesday, Prince William County, Virginia, police Officer Steven Bailey said he interrogated people in the parking lot of a Bob Evans restaurant, where authorities say the sniper was hiding when he shot and killed Meyers at the Sunoco gas station.
Bailey testified that he saw Muhammad in a dark Chevrolet Caprice and asked him what he was doing there. Muhammad politely replied that he had been driving home, had gotten off of a nearby interstate and that police had directed him into the parking lot, Bailey said.
Police had been guiding people away from the area at the time. In cross-examination, Muhammad asked whether his claim that police directed him into the lot made sense.
"No, I didn't catch on," Bailey replied. "I wish I had."
Muhammad rebuked for attorney consultations
At times during Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors complained that Muhammad was consulting too frequently with his attorneys and, therefore, acting as a co-counsel.
"This is not what you ordered," complained prosecutor Richard Conway. "This is not what the law requires."
Millette concurred. "You can represent yourself, or they can represent you," the judge told Muhammad.
Peter Greenspun, one of Muhammad's two attorneys, argued that he and fellow standby counsel Jonathan Shapiro had not gone too far.
"I have not been pumping him full of stuff," Greenspun said. "We have shown a great deal of restraint."
Millette agreed to move the attorneys farther away from Muhammad in the courtroom, and said Muhammad appeared to be representing himself competently.
A total of 19 witnesses have testified during the first two days of trial; 15 of them on Tuesday. The witnesses thus far have focused on two crimes, the day Meyers was shot and the robbery and shooting of LaRuffa.
CNN correspondents Jean Meserve and Patty Davis and Producer Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.
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