Free Republic

Cryptic notes and calls described; Muhammad possibly caught on video. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Jurors heard firsthand accounts yesterday of the cryptic dialogue between the serial snipers and investigators - rambling phone conversations and letters in which the killers threatened children and demanded $10 million as part of an extortion plot.

<p>VIRGINIA BEACH, Oct. 29 -- Five witnesses at John Allen Muhammad's murder trial have testified that they told police about a suspicious, dark-colored Chevrolet sedan at sniper shooting scenes -- reports that apparently went overlooked as authorities focused on white vans and box trucks.</p> <p>The testimony about Muhammad's blue Caprice dominated Wednesday's proceedings. Two witnesses from separate sniper attacks in Spotsylvania County told jurors that they saw the car with tinted windows creep slowly by within minutes of the shootings on Oct. 4 and Oct. 11, 2002. Both witnesses said they immediately told police about the car.</p>

<p>VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- A 14-year-old Maryland boy who was shot and nearly killed by a sniper last fall told a packed courtroom Wednesday that the terrifying experience "brought me closer to God."</p> <p>Iran Brown, who was 13 when he was gunned down in front of the Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, testified in the murder trial of John Allen Muhammad, who police and prosecutors say was one of two men responsible for sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area last October.</p>

<p>October 29, 2003 -- VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Ralph Sheldon heard an explosion, then saw a woman slumped over on a bench, blood pouring from her head. He thought she must have committed suicide because there was nobody else around. "A girl just shot herself," he told a 911 operator.</p>

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad on Wednesday fired himself as his own counsel after two days. Standby lawyers Jonathan Shapiro and Peter Greenspun once again took over as his attorneys. Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. informed the jury of Muhammad's decision after a half-hour conference at the judge's bench.

Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad ends his self-representation and will be represented by defense lawyers.

<p>Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad's decision to represent himself in his trial came as a courtroom surprise, but could give the former U.S. soldier accused in the killing rampage that claimed 10 lives a chance to plead face to face with jurors to spare his life.</p>

(CBS/AP) Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad won the right to act as his own lawyer Monday in a surprise, last-minute request at his murder trial, then broke a year of stony silence with a rambling opening statement in which he assured the jury: "I had nothing to do with these crimes." It was not clear why Muhammad, who faces the death penalty if convicted, decided to fire his lawyers, who will serve as standby counsel to come out of last year's sniper-shooting spree that killed 10 people in Washington, D.C., and its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia in three weeks...

<p>VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad denied any involvement in the shootings in his opening statements Monday, after the judge granted an unexpected motion allowing him to represent himself.</p> <p>"I had nothing to do with the crime," he told the jury. "I had nothing at all to do with the crime -- and they know this. And please pay attention-- my life and my son's life -- is on the line," Muhammad said, apparently a reference to fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo.</p>

breaking news on Fox--DC sniper John Muhammed to represent himself.

<p>The murder trial of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad continued yesterday with a long and tedious jury-selection process.</p> <p>The attorneys say they expect to finish interviewing potential jurors today and argue motions tomorrow.</p> <p>Attorneys questioned 15 potential jurors over seven hours yesterday. Prince William Circuit Court Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. dismissed two.</p>

One of the two accused Washington snipers, John Allen Muhammad, pleaded not guilty at the start of his first trial over the 10 random killings last year that terrorised the US capital. Muhammad, 42, could face the death penalty if found guilty. The trial has drawn enormous attention in the United States and some relatives of the victims of the shootings were in court. Wearing a white shirt and black tie, Muhammad denied the four murder, terrorism and weapons charges against him and told Judge Leroy Millette he understood the accusations. He watched silently as the start of the selection...

MANASSAS, Va. (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy shocked sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad with a stun belt after he refused to participate in medical tests at a hospital, his attorney said. Muhammad was taken by sheriff's deputies and guards from jail around noon Friday to undergo a court-ordered MRI and an electroencephalogram, which monitors brain waves. But Jonathan Shapiro, one of Muhammad's attorneys, told The Washington Post that hospital staff also wanted to X-ray the suspect's head before the MRI. Muhammad had not expected the X-ray and did not want to speak to sheriff's officials without his attorneys present,...

Sniper trial jury screening debated By JON FRANK, The Virginian-Pilot © August 19, 2003 Last updated: 11:48 PM John Allen Muhammad Related: Judge won't let Muhammad's defense hire jury consultantMore news on the sniper trials MANASSAS -- Potential jurors will not be asked about their religious practices on a written questionnaire when the sniper trial of John Allen Muhammad begins in Virginia Beach on Oct. 14. At a hearing Monday in Manassas, Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette began narrowing down the questions that possible jurors will be asked in writing before attorneys start choosing who will decide Muhammad's fate. The...

Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammaed may have been exposed to nerve gas or chemical agents during his military service in the Persian Gulf War, his attorney told a judge Friday.