Posted on 11/21/2003 10:11:04 PM PST by 11th_VA
Jurors deliberated the fate of sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad on Friday without reaching a decision, indicating in a message to the judge that they were divided.
In a note sent after nearly four hours of deliberations, jurors asked what happens if they cannot reach a unanimous verdict, Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. said.
"We have spent six weeks. ... I would simply urge you to continue your deliberations," the judge told jurors. "We really want to try to get a unanimous decision." Millette rejected a juror's request to allow jurors to do legal research on the death penalty. He then adjourned the session for the day. Jurors are to return Monday morning. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty, Muhammad automatically would receive life in prison.
The jury is deciding whether Muhammad should die for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers on Oct. 9, 2002, in Manassas, one of the 13 sniper shootings _ 10 of them fatal _ that terrorized the Washington area last year. He was convicted Monday of two capital murder charges. Jurors then heard arguments and testimony in the sentencing phase and began deliberating Friday morning.
Jurors must weigh whether his crimes are "vile, horrible or inhuman" and whether he poses a future risk if he is given life in prison instead of a death sentence.
In the trial of alleged Muhammad accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, a police detective testified Friday that Malvo laughed when he described two of the shootings.
Malvo is on trial 15 miles away in Chesapeake for the Oct. 14, 2002, shooting of Linda Franklin at a Home Depot. He also faces two capital murder charges.
Fairfax County homicide detective June Boyle said she interviewed Malvo on Nov. 7, 2002, after federal charges were dropped and he was transferred to Virginia from Maryland, where he and Muhammad were arrested.
Boyle said she asked Malvo if he knew where Franklin was hit by the bullet.
"He laughed and pointed here, right here," Boyle said, pointing to the right side of her forehead.
Boyle said when she asked Malvo about the Meyers shooting, he again laughed and said, "He was hit good. Dead immediately." Asked whether he experienced any stress during the sniper attacks, Boyle said Malvo replied, "No. Why stress?"
Boyle said Malvo also told her, "A head shot is best. But you can't always take a head shot because the person could be moving."
Attorneys for Malvo don't dispute that he took part in the sniper attacks, but they contend he was brainwashed by Muhammad and is innocent by reason of insanity.
In closing arguments in the penalty phase, Muhammad's defense attorney implored jurors Thursday to listen to their consciences, telling them "a life is literally in your hands."
"It is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your whole life," defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro told them. The defense showed jurors home videos on which Muhammad coaxes his toddling daughter to take her first steps and prods his young son to flex his muscles like his dad.
But prosecutors, urging jurors to sentence him to death, noted the string of sniper shootings left 21 children without parents, some as young as 6 months old.
"He doesn't care about children, human life or anything else God put on this earth except himself," Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney James Willett said.
I heard she's an ex-Naval Investigative Service (NIS) Agent - Was asked about Death Penalty during jury selection and said she wasn't sure if it was right or not ...
No, she answered honestly - she wasn't sure - she asked judge if she could 'surf the net' this weekend, he said NO. Won't let her read anything. She needs to make up her mind by Monday ...
Oh goodness no, don't do that! There was an infamous murder case here in Denver several years ago. The guy, Robert Harlan, was sentenced to death. Recently that was overturned by a judge because it came out the jury consulted the Bible during deliberations.
Harlan Death Sentence Tossed (Jury Consulted Bible) http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/916725/posts
Second jury deadlocks on man's guilt
For the second time in six months, a San Diego Superior Court jury has deadlocked on charges against an Oceanside man accused of leading two teenage boys in a crime spree targeting elderly people in the North County.
A mistrial was declared after this jury voted 11-1 in favor of convicting Matthew Powell, 20, of eight charges, including burglary and robbery.
Prosecutor Robert Stein said his office wants to retry the case. Judge John Thompson said he was inclined to grant the request.
After the mistrial was declared, 10 of the jurors waited in the courthouse hallway and applauded Stein as he left the courtroom.
"You did a great job," one woman said. "We are all so frustrated."
"It almost came to fisticuffs" during deliberations, another juror said. Just before the mistrial was declared, Stein asked Thompson to remove the one dissenting juror from the panel because "it is clear he is biased against the District Attorney's Office and law enforcement in general."
Thompson refused to remove the juror, saying his conduct was legally acceptable.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20031121-9999_1mc21powell.html
In Virginia, it's pretty good - second only to Texas ...
At yearend 2001, 37 States and the Federal prison system held 3,557 prisoners under sentence of death, 20 fewer than at yearend 2001. All had committed murder.
In 2002, 71 persons in 13 States were executed -- 33 in Texas; 7 in Oklahoma, 6 in Missouri; 4 each in Georgia and Virginia, 3 each in Florida, South Carolina, and Ohio; 2 each in Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina; and 1 each in Louisiana and California.
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