Sniper Suspect: Federal Charges Dismissed.. (fox news)

[Freedom2specul8]

That's all we know so far..

[Freedom2specul8]

Ping..

[Catspaw]

They may have dismissed the charges to allow the states to prosecute. If I remember correctly, Virginia was precluded from prosecuting the murderers if a federal case was going forward.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Probably no biggie. They no longer need the (unconstitutional) weapons possession charges to hold them in custody, now that they have been charged for the murders.

[Freedom2specul8]

As long as this doesn't create a loophole..

[Freedom2specul8]

Fox News just confirmed, they're being transferred to virginia, separate counties.. Good Call!

[Catspaw]

They aren't going anywhere.

Apparently, they hit in yet another state. There's a ballistics match on a robbery in Atlanta. Add Georgia to the list of states standing in line to prosecute these murderers.

[Catspaw]

YEEHAW! Virginia gets first dibs. The little punk, Malvo, is going to be tried as an adult & faces the death penalty in Virginia. He wouldn't have faced the death penalty in Maryland because of his age.

I'm not that clairvoyant. I just know that the feds will issue Interstate Flight to Avoid Prosecution charges to get the perp, then the perp is extradited to the state of original jurisdiction & the interstate flight charges are dismissed. It's a tool the feds use to help get criminals in custody, then allow the states to prosecute.

[areafiftyone]

Thanks for the ping. These guys are going to be crispy critters no matter where they go.

[Congressman Billybob]

You have it right. Federal charges trump state charges. But Virginia, which can apply its death penalty law to both defendants (even if Malvo was 17 at the time of the shootings), has already filed charges.

So, this is routine, and is preparing the way for the defendants to be tried in Virginia.

Dismissing charges does not prevent the feds from reinstating them any time in the future, should they be necessary. Most likely, the polticially ambitious States Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland, has been taken to the woodshed and has agreed to defer to Virginia. (The Maryland death penalty does not apply to EITHER defendant.)

Congressman Billybob

On American Politics

Click for "to Restore Trust in America"

[aristeides]

Yes, just heard on WMAL: Muhammad and Malvo being investigated for sniper shooting at liquor store in Atlanta.

Anybody got a date for that shooting?

[aristeides]

Federal charges are an alternative best saved for last, just in case they get off on the state charges on some technicality or jury nullification.

[Fred Mertz]

For the most part, the feds have mercifully stayed 'hidden' in the background throughout this entire episode. I meant to thank the Bush administration for their brilliant PR strategy in this regard. Can you imagine how this would have been handled under Slick Willie?

Of course, we both know who were calling the shots and pulling the strings. I am still of the opinion that Chief Moose's press conferences were always tardy because his back room rehearsals weren't polished enough for the feds. Of course, this is only my opinion.

[Freedom2specul8]

Found on another thread.

GREENBELT, Md. — The federal government dropped charges against Beltway Sniper suspect John Muhammad on Thursday, paving the way for the murder suspect to be charged in a state court.

An official at the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt told Fox News that the charges against Muhammad, 41, had been dismissed, and that a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday had been cancelled.

Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, were transferred from the Supermax facility in Baltimore. Fox News has learned that they are being taken to facilities in Virginia, where both have been charged with murder.

Also on Thursday, a television station in Atlanta reported that a fatal shooting at a liquor store in that city had been linked to the sniper killings.

WAGA-TV quoted unnamed police sources as saying the gun used in the Sept. 21 shooting in Atlanta was the same gun used in the sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C., area.

The station said ballistics tests were used to make the connection.

Muhammad and Malvo have already been accused of shooting 17 people, killing 12 and wounding five, in Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, Washington state and Washington, D.C.


10 posted on 11/07/2002 12:04 PM CST by citizen

[Freedom2specul8]

And another one..
MORE ON ATLANTA SHOOTING

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/news/sniper/07atlanta.html

[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 11/7/02 ]
BREAKING NEWS: UPDATED 12:53 P.M.

Pennington to discuss reports of possible Atlanta connection to D.C. sniper case

By ERNIE SUGGS
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Atlanta police have scheduled a 2:30 p.m. press conference to discuss a possible connection between an Atlanta murder and the D.C.-area sniper attacks.

WAGA today quoted unnamed police sources as saying the gun used in the Sept. 21 in Atlanta is the same gun used in the shootings around Washington.

A police spokesman says Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington at 2:30 p.m. will discuss what he called "a possible connection" to the Washington sniper case.

Officials at a federal courthouse in Maryland, meanwhile, say federal charges against sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad have been dismissed. An official says that means a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday in federal court has been canceled.

The dismissal could mean that the case will be transferred to a local jurisdiction for prosecution.


18 posted on 11/07/2002 12:08 PM CST by citizen

[Freedom2specul8]

See post #15

[Future Useless Eater]

The DATE was September 20, just before midnight,
about 22 hours before the Montgomery Alabama murder.


Developing: Murder Linked to Snipers

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.asp?storyid=23860

In a breaking news story on 11Alive News at Noon, reporter Kevin Rowson revealed that ballistics tests link the Washington-area sniper attacks to a murder in Atlanta.

Federal and local law enforcement sources confirmed to Rowson that detectives have linked a homicide that occurred here in September to the Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle used by the sniper suspects.

The rifle, pulled from John Muhammad's Chevy Caprice after his arrest, was used to kill several Washington sniper victims, as well as a woman in Montgomery, Ala., and a beauty supply worker in Baton Rouge, La.

The Baton Rouge killing happened Sept. 23. The killing of the liquor store manager in Montgomery happened Sept. 21, less than 24 hours after the Atlanta murder.

The murder in Southwest Atlanta took place close to midnight Sept. 20 when someone shot 41-year-old liquor store employee Million Waldemarian once in the back of the head and once in the torso.

Another person in the package store on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive said he heard the shots but did not see a gunman.

The murder remained unsolved until Atlanta authorities sent ballistics tests to the D.C. Sniper Task Force, where a match was made.

Officials with the police department have made no confirmation of the report but planned an afternoon news conference.



I will update the Muhammad timeline/body count listing
tonight to include Atlanta Sept 21,
Arizona in March 2002,
Clinton MD (twice) in September
(and maybe? Jennifer Short - in Virginia - in August 2002)

[dead]

Good. Get the feds out of the way. They'd spend half their effort trying to hide facts that could be politically volatile - like funding from mosques or foreign sources, Muhammed's curious travel itinerary, and even the fact that they're bone-smugglers.

They effectively squashed all "alternative theories" in their rush to kill McVeigh.

Virginia will fry them just right, after we hear the truth.

[Future Useless Eater]

I mean Atlanta September 20

[Fred Mertz]

Thanks for your compilation efforts, they are very helpful and valuable.