Mike Irwin
Member
From the Washington (Com)Post (rest of article can be found there)...
A Fairfax County judge this morning ordered the capital murder trial of Lee Boyd Malvo be transferred to the city of Chesapeake, ruling that the fear caused by last fall's sniper shootings had unfairly prejudiced Malvo's right to a fair trial in the metropolitan area.
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush revealed her decision in a six-paragraph letter to the prosecutors and defense lawyers early today. The defense had requested the change of venue for Malvo's Nov. 14 trial, saying that the shootings that killed 10 and wounded three people in the Washington area had made victims of everyone in the corridor from the Maryland suburbs south to Richmond.
"I believe that venue should be transferred to a jurisdiction outside of the Washington/Richmond corridor, where many citizens lived in fear during the month of October 2002 as a result of the crimes with which the defendant is charged," Roush wrote.
To support her ruling, Roush added a footnote citing 15 articles from The Washington Post that appeared during the three weeks in October, when the shootings were going on and the sniper suspects were at large. The articles featured headlines such as "Fear Infiltrates Everyday Activities," "Time of Fear, Words of Comfort" and "Fearful Neighbors Wonder if Killer Lives Among Them."
Malvo, 18, is charged with capital murder in the Oct. 14 shooting of Linda Franklin, 47, in the Seven Corners area. His alleged co-conspirator, John Allen Muhammad, 42, is being tried in Prince William County for the Oct. 9 killing of Dean Harold Meyers. Prosecutors allege that the two men tried to extort $10 million from the government in exchange for an end to the shootings, and both are charged under a new anti-terrorism law that prohibits violence intended to "intimidate the civilian population" or "influence the conduct or activities of the government . . . through intimidation."
A Fairfax County judge this morning ordered the capital murder trial of Lee Boyd Malvo be transferred to the city of Chesapeake, ruling that the fear caused by last fall's sniper shootings had unfairly prejudiced Malvo's right to a fair trial in the metropolitan area.
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush revealed her decision in a six-paragraph letter to the prosecutors and defense lawyers early today. The defense had requested the change of venue for Malvo's Nov. 14 trial, saying that the shootings that killed 10 and wounded three people in the Washington area had made victims of everyone in the corridor from the Maryland suburbs south to Richmond.
"I believe that venue should be transferred to a jurisdiction outside of the Washington/Richmond corridor, where many citizens lived in fear during the month of October 2002 as a result of the crimes with which the defendant is charged," Roush wrote.
To support her ruling, Roush added a footnote citing 15 articles from The Washington Post that appeared during the three weeks in October, when the shootings were going on and the sniper suspects were at large. The articles featured headlines such as "Fear Infiltrates Everyday Activities," "Time of Fear, Words of Comfort" and "Fearful Neighbors Wonder if Killer Lives Among Them."
Malvo, 18, is charged with capital murder in the Oct. 14 shooting of Linda Franklin, 47, in the Seven Corners area. His alleged co-conspirator, John Allen Muhammad, 42, is being tried in Prince William County for the Oct. 9 killing of Dean Harold Meyers. Prosecutors allege that the two men tried to extort $10 million from the government in exchange for an end to the shootings, and both are charged under a new anti-terrorism law that prohibits violence intended to "intimidate the civilian population" or "influence the conduct or activities of the government . . . through intimidation."