DC Sniper Trial Moved to Southern Virginia

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Mike Irwin

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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."
 
Why did he want to move it? There are more Liberal ninnys here in the Northern part of the State than in the Southern part! I meen, up here its like people want to know why he shot folks at random. "Maybe he's angry" syndrom. The rest of the State will be like "You shot folks for money?" "Guilty! Get in the chair!"
 
Ol' Badger:
Maybe he wanted it switched because in S. VA, the deliberations might be more in-depth than "The guy in the fancy suit said he used a gun, my TV says guns are bad, I wet myself and couldnt go to work for a week, let's fry him" and could actually consider the facts of the case (and hopefully get to decide between 'regular' and 'extra-crispy').

Kharn
 
It can be liberal around here. I do not know about Cheaspeake, but they do have a lot of Grandffathered carry laws.
They moved it because they believe there was less media coverage down here...yeah right. They are fully aware that he is going to fry no matter where he goes and just stalling, maybe even looking for a mistrial. If they had there way the trial would be in MD first. The snipers should have been up on state laws and stayed in MD or went around VA.
 
Why?

I think it's pretty evident why.

Every one around here was just about sideways every time they got out of their car to get gas, wondering if they were going to catch a bullet.

I drove my car nearly out of gas when I left for vacation just to get out of the area before I tanked up. I radically altered my dog walking pattern to stay away from streets.

It wasn't uncommon to see people getting out of their cars and SPRINTING into stores and offices.

One of the women who was killed was killed less than 1/2 mile from my office in the parking lot of a Home Depot where I've spent a LOT of time and money.

Were I picked for this jury, there's no way in hell that I could say with complete candor that I could give a fair judgement.

I agree with moving the trial.

it removes one more avenue of appeal.
 
Key factors besides venue change were a large courtroom with CCTV for the expected media horde and underground access between the court bldg. and the holding facility.
 
I guess I should have been more clear after reading it again.
I meant at the time everything was going on the news coverage was less down here.
That is what I heard on the radio coming into work.

And maybe I should start proof reading!
 
I could be counted on to give this guy a fair trial.

I wake up fairly early each morning and have a jog before heading to the couthouse.

I'd eat a fairly misurable sandwich supplied by the court for lunch.

I'd spend a fair ammount of my attention span trying to catch all the evidence.

I'd convict fairly quickly, and vote for execution with a fairly large ammount of toxic chemicals or a fairly large ammount of electrical current.

I'd feel fairly good about the whole thing.

Lapidator.
 
I will always remember people up here rushing to buy new handguns during/just after all this. I should know as this is what pushed me over the edge!
 
I also want to ad that although people here have already (unfortunately) forgotten September 11, I don't think they will EVER forget what it was like in October 2002.
 
Point of order => East. Eastern Virginia.

And they have a new courthouse with fairly large courtrooms according to the Washington Post today. And 27% IIRC African-American opposed to Fairfax's 7% IIRC.

My opinion => Chesapeake. Huh?

Must be the courthouse.

I see the same judge will go along and preside. Is this normal or is the judge hogging the spotlight?

John
 
I hate to go against the odds, but would everyone agree that the whole East Coast was on alert and it really did not matter who it was and that anyone would have been a target?

I think it is going to be really hard to find an unbiased jury here in VA.
 
What was Brian Dennehy's line in Silverado]/i]? " We're going to give you a fair trial, followed by a first class hangin'."

Chesapeake has a relatively new, 'secure' facility. Another 800-pound gorilla sitting in the stands is that there probably isn't a large muslim segment in Chesapeake.
It will be interesting to see if there are going to be any death penalty protestors. I hope they enjoy the drive.
Chesapeake is in southestern Virginia. It's just south of Norfolk (south) and any farther south and you're nearly in North Carolina. Any farther east and you need a boat.
 
Will make O.J. look like child's play

Throw in the Muslim angle too (along with their being African-American contradicting reports of the "angry white male") and we've got a trial that might set race/religious relations back 20 years, unfortunately. It will be interesting to see how the media covers those angles. The only thing that could be worse is if they had only murdered white people.
 
Smart Judge

The Judge is just heading off possible issues that could be raised in an appeal. The Va Supreme Court recently (last year?) remanded a death penalty case for a new trial because the prosecutor tried the case in the small town where the murder (the only one that year) took place and there had been a lot of pretrial publicity.

I agree with some of the other posters that a Chesapeake jury will give him the needle as fast as a Fairfax jury. If they don't, there are still other Va cases that can be tried (sadly).
 
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