Lee Boyd Malvo's Principal Testifies
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The principal of a school that sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo (search) attended testified Tuesday that Malvo's mother approved the designation of John Allen Muhammad (search) as his guardian and that Malvo left the school roughly two weeks after she took a Koran (search) away from him.
Rosalind Aaron, the principal of a Seventh-Day Adventist school in Antigua, described Malvo, whom she taught in 11th grade, as "intelligent, respectful and jovial," and said Muhammad once identified himself as Malvo's uncle.
Defense attorney Craig Cooley introduced a photo of the Caribbean school and said it will form a stark contrast with the state-of-the art high school where Muhammad enrolled Malvo in Washington state.
Aaron said she took the Koran away, then gave it back at the end of the day, because she didn't want him spreading Muslim ideas in a Christian school. She also said his grades had started dropping at around the same time she took away the Muslim holy book.
The testimony came one day after jurors heard the rest of a recorded police interview in which Malvo's predicted he and Muhammad both would be executed for the spree of shootings that terrified the Washington. D.C. area last fall.
"I think they're gonna kill me," Malvo said. He later added: "Between Alabama, Louisiana and Virginia, Alabama, good as gold."
He also has told authorities that he expected convicted sniper mastermind Muhammad to be executed, a prediction that moved closer to realization Monday when a jury in Virginia Beach recommended the death penalty for him. Some jurors said their decision was helped by Muhammad's apparent lack of remorse.
Throughout his six-week trial, Muhammad rarely broke his emotionless gaze, not even flinching when jurors recommended the death sentence.
Several jurors said they hunted for some remorse in Muhammad, 42, as he sat behind the defense table, but saw none. Foreman Jerry Haggerty said Muhammad appeared "arrogant" by choosing to represent himself at the trial's start before handing the case back to his court-appointed lawyers.
The jury of seven women and five men said Monday that Muhammad should be executed for the murder of Dean Meyers Oct. 9, 2002 in Manassas and for carrying out the sniper spree with his Malvo, his alleged teenage partner. Deliberations lasted 5 1/2 hours over two days.
Jurors could have given Muhammad life in prison for his two capital murder convictions. Prince William Circuit Court Judge LeRoy Millette will set Muhammad's sentence at a Feb. 12 hearing, but Virginia judges rarely overturn jury recommendations in capital cases.
"The man doesn't care about anything but himself," juror Dennis Bowman said after the verdict. "The total lack of remorse seemed to cap it for us."
Prosecutors said Muhammad and Malvo, 18, formed a mobile sniper team, randomly shooting people last fall from the trunk of a beat-up Chevrolet Caprice. They presented evidence of 16 shootings, including 10 deaths, in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana and the District of Columbia.
Semone Powell, a second cousin of Malvo's, testified Monday in Malvo's trial that his mother beat him, even though he was an obedient child. Una James would get upset if she asked Malvo to bring her a basket and she thought the boy moved too slowly, Powell said.
"She would hit him, hit him randomly all over his body with her hand," Powell said. James also threw shoes at Malvo, pulled his hair and yelled at him, using "words that were not so nice," she said.
Leslie Malvo, Malvo's father, was the first person to take the stand in Malvo's defense. An interpreter clarified his answers to attorneys' questions because the senior Malvo, a mason who lives in Kingston, Jamaica, has a heavy accent.
Leslie Malvo said he had a "very nice relationship, a loving one" with Lee, whom he described as "handsome, willing, obedient, manageable" as well as "beautiful."
"Lee was my pride," Leslie Malvo said. "I love him very much."
The shootings last fall terrorized the Washington region — people were afraid to pump gas and to go to public places. Schools were locked down, especially after a note left at a shooting scene warned: "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time."
Malvo is on trial in the Oct. 14, 2002 deadly shooting of Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church, and also could face the death penalty if convicted.
In taped confessions played for jurors, Malvo boasts that he was the triggerman in all the sniper shootings. His defense has admitted he shot Franklin, but said that Muhammad, who often introduced Malvo as his son, molded the teen into a killer.
Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert, who prosecuted Muhammad, said Muhammad took pleasure in killing people, and that the jury verdict was a "victory for society" that will serve as a deterrent to other killers.
"When they (Muhammad and Malvo) said your children are not safe, they meant it," he told reporters. "I'm happy to say because of this verdict, your children are safe."
Defense attorney Peter Greenspun wouldn't say what Muhammad's reaction was to the verdict, but blasted the U.S. Justice Department for sending Muhammad to Virginia because the likelihood of winning a death sentence was greater than in other states.
"The sanction of another killing by the government is not likely to ... benefit anybody," he said.
Greenspun said there are several possible grounds for an appeal, including Muhammad's conviction on a terrorism charge. The law is untested in the courts — Muhammad was the first person tried under the statute.
Muhammad was transferred back to Prince William County custody Monday.
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