Posted on 07/28/2003 3:54:22 PM PDT by weegee
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - The teenager accused in a string of sniper killings last year said he wounded a 13-year-old boy in order to make the police chief hunting him "emotional," a prison guard testified.
Joseph Stracke, a captain at the Supermax prison in Baltimore, testified at a pretrial hearing Thursday that Lee Boyd Malvo spoke proudly of the shootings allegedly committed by him and fellow suspect John Allen Muhammad. The conversation occurred Oct. 26, two days after Malvo's arrest.
Stracke said he asked Malvo why he shot Iran Brown, 13, outside a Bowie, Md., middle school. "To make Chief Moose upset, to make him emotional so he wouldn't think straight, and it worked," Stracke said he was told by Malvo.
After the shooting, Police Chief Charles Moose had tears in his eyes while he pleaded with the killer to stop the violence. Brown was critically wounded but later recovered.
Malvo, 18, and Muhammad, 42, have been linked to 20 shootings, including 13 deaths, in Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. Both could face the death penalty if convicted.
Moose, who has since left the department, led the sniper investigation.
Malvo's attorneys, who want to keep the testimony out of his trial, said some of Malvo's other claims _ such as shooting a senator on a golf course _ cast doubt on all the alleged statements.
Malvo told Stracke that Muhammad shot two women in Alabama. The guard also said Malvo talked about cleaning up ghettos as a rationale for a killing in Louisiana.
Malvo also said he had initially planned to shoot a busload of children, but aborted that plan, Stracke testified. The reason was unclear.
A second guard, Wayne Davis, said Malvo claimed that he shot a senator on a golf course, that he shot a young black woman who answered a door, and that he had tracked down and shot a schoolmate who had been picking on him.
Davis said he didn't necessarily believe everything Malvo said.
"I was under the impression he was exaggerating to me," Davis said.
Malvo's lawyers said the array of claims calls into question the veracity of any of the alleged confessions.
"He was shooting senators on golf courses. He was shooting drug dealers here and there. You can draw your own conclusions," defense lawyer Thomas Walsh said.
Defense lawyers are seeking to have the guards' testimony ruled inadmissible at Malvo's trial. They argue that Stracke is a law enforcement officer who conducted an interrogation even though Malvo had invoked his right to remain silent.
Prosecutors say that prison guards do not qualify as law enforcement officers and that Malvo initiated the conversations.
Prosecutor Robert F. Horan Jr. said he is drawing no conclusions about some of the more fantastic claims attributed to Malvo, but added that other evidence backs up many of Malvo's admissions.
Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush said at the end of the hearing that she would rule on the suppression motion by the end of August.
Malvo goes on trial Nov. 10 for the shooting death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin at a Home Depot store in Falls Church. He said he shot her because "she was just lazy, standing still," Stracke testified.
(Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Keep the Faith for Freedom
Greg
Straight from the pages of Travis' new book!
He has something against government workers?
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