- Post-Trial Updates
- December 23, 2003: The jury has decided that Malvo will serve a life sentence with no possibility of parole
- March 10, 2004: The judge formally sentences Malvo to life in prison with no possibility of parole
- Crime Forum Discussion About the March 10, 2004 Sentencing
- How the Jurors Were Split on the Sentence
- Why Muhammad's Jury and Malvo's Jury Were Considering Entirely Different Questions
- Background Information on Lee Malvo's Trial
The penalty phase goes to the jury after the defense rests and both the prosecution and defense make their closing arguments.
Update: No decision after the first day of deliberations
December
19, 2003
As
the penalty phase begins, the jury hears the tape of the 9-1-1 call in
which Linda Franklin's husband says his wife's been shot
More:
Relatives of victims testify
December
18, 2003
Malvo
has been found guilty of capital murder, which carries the possibility
of the death penalty
December
17, 2003
The
judge ruled that in the penalty phase -- assuming there is one -- relatives
of all the Beltway Sniper victims may testify; not only the relatives of
Linda Franklin, the woman he's currently on trial for murdering.
December
16, 2003
Closing
arguments have concluded, and the case went to the jury. Deliberations
will begin tomorrow morning.
More:
the judge ruled that, while the jury has the option of deciding that Malvo
was insane based on being brainwashed by John Allen Muhammad, they may
not consider the defense's alternate "irresistible impulse" argument. The
jury can find Malvo not guilty (which the defense closing argument didn't
even ask the jury to consider), not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty
of first degree murder (maximum sentence life in prison), or guilty of
capital murder (maximum sentence the death penalty)
“Mr. Malvo knows exactly what he’s doing" -Dr. Stanton Samenow, a clinical psychologist, testifying for the prosecution
The defense rests, and the prosecution begins to introduce its rebuttal witnesses. Survivors of the Sniper attacks are expected to testify.
December
11, 2003
Defense
psychiatrist Neil Blumberg, who will likely
turn out to be the final defense witness, testifies
that Malvo told her Muhammad was planning to shoot -- but not kill -- between
three and five schoolchildren on October 7. Muhammad only shot one. Previously,
Malvo had told investigators that he himself had shot the 14-year-old.
More:
Dr. Blumberg testifies that, because of Malvo's indoctrination by John
Allen Muhammad, he was legally insane at the time of the shootings
Update:
Under cross-examination, the Dr. Blumberg conceded that Malvo had been
"anti-social" since childhood. The trial is adjoined until Monday (December
15)
December
8, 2003
Today,
the defense is expected to call a mental health expert to testify that
he was brainwashed to the point where he couldn't understand right from
wrong.
More:
A psychologist discussed how, as a child, Malvo would torture and kill
cats though he was, other than that, a "strikingly obedient child." The
defense seems to waver between portraying Malvo as being a good child,
and talking about his troubled childhood.
More:
According to the psychologist, Malvo believed Muhammad would kill him if
he deviated from their mission.
More:
The judge banned the audio-visual presentation the defense had planned,
which would have included Malvo's baby pictures and clips from The Matrix,
the film they claim helped influence his violent behavior.
December
5, 2003
Carmeta
Albarus, the social worker hired by the defense to study Lee Malvo's state
of mind, continued her testimony today and said that Malvo believed he
and Muhammad were going to create a race of "super children" who would
fight racial injustice.
More:
A cult expert (who never interviewed either Malvo or Muhammad) testified
how Malvo could have been brainwashed.
December
4, 2003
After
the letter Malvo wrote to Muhammad's niece (see yesterday's
and the previous day's updates) ended up printed
in this morning's Washington Post (after the judge declared it inadmissible
as evidence and the defense suggested it would find another way to make
it public), the judge placed a gag order on attorneys on both sides.
More:
A social worker backed up the defense suggestion that Malvo was influenced
by the film The Matrix, possibly identifying with the Neo character
who had to violently escape from a computer-generated reality. Muhammad
would then be analogous to Neo's mentor, Morpheus.
More:
As evidence of Malvo's "indoctrination", the defense introduced a series
of sketches he drew while in jail, including the one at left showing prosecutor
Robert Horan Jr in the crosshairs of a rifle.
December
3, 2003
The
judge ruled that the letter Malvo wrote to Muhammad's niece (see yesterday's
update) was hearsay and inadmissible as evidence; and a former platoon
sergeant testified that in 1991, Muhammad was suspected of tossing a grenade
into a U.S. Army tent (and that according to Muhammad's military record,
he once told a supervisor "Brother to brother, back off or you'll be the
first who will be slaughtered.''). In effect, since the defense really
can't claim Malvo didn't do the shootings, they've been putting Muhammad
on trial to bolster their argument that Malvo acted under his control.
December
2, 2003
John
Allen Muhammad's oldest son discussed his father's manipulative nature,
and said that when he was 11, his father convinced him -- falsely -- that
his mother was abusing him.
More:
In the summer of 2002, Malvo wrote a letter to Muhammad's niece asking
for her help in getting out of his "situation" and referring to himself
as "a walking time bomb". This is from testimony by Carol Williams, Muhammad's
first wife. The jury didn't see the actual letter, and it wasn't entirely
clear what the "situation" was.
December
1, 2003
John
Allen Muhammad refuses to testify at Malvo's trial.
More:
Mildred Muhammad, John Allen Muhammad's ex-wife, testified that Muhammad
was "a magnet to children", and was a very controlling man.
November
26, 2003
John
Allen Muhammad has received a subpoena to testify for the defense.
Craig Cooley, Malvo's attorney, believes that all Muhammad has to do is
tell the truth, and the jury will see how he manipulated Malvo. Muhammad
has a Fifth Amendment right not to testify since, although he's been found
guilty, he hasn't yet been sentenced and he still
could be tried by other jurisdictions.
November
25, 2003
The
principal from Malvo's Seventh-Day Adventist school in Antigua testified
that Malvo's mother approved of Muhammad's designation as Malvo's guardian,
and that Malvo's grades dropped and he left the school shortly after she
-- the principal -- took away his Koran for a day because she didn't want
him discussing Islam with his fellow students.
November
24, 2003
The
defense questions police detectives about inconsistencies between Malvo's
taped confessions and the physical evidence.
Update:
The prosecution rests its case after the jury hears the rest of Malvo's
taped confession.
Update:
The defense opens its case with testimony from Malvo's father, in which
he speaks of his son's troubled childhood
November
21, 2003
The
jury heard more tapes of Malvo discussing the shootings, recorded soon
after his arrest.
November
20, 2003
A
Baltimore prison guard testified that Malvo told him he'd killed Linda
Franklin "because she was standing there, lazy".
November
19, 2003
Today's
testimony about the various shootings that took place last autumn pretty
much repeated testimony from John
Allen Muhammad's recent trial, with many of the same witnesses
November
18, 2003
"I
couldn't get a body shot ... He went down" -Lee Malvo
The
jury hears an audiotape in which Malvo confessed to police about having
killed Dean Harold Myers.
Two very opinionated editorials about the case: The Insanity Defense is Crazy (favoring the prosecution) and Malvo Jurors Hear So-Called Confession (favoring the defense - and presented as a new story, not as an editorial comment)November 13, 2003
After opening arguments, the trial was recessed until Monday (November 17), since some physical evidence is still required at John Allen Muhammad's trial.
More: The prosecutor said that the heart of the case against Malvo will be two hours of videotape on which Malvo explains "who he killed and why he killed them" November 12, 2003
The jury has been selected, and opening arguments will begin tomorrow morning
November
11, 2003
Jury
selection resumed, and both John Allen Muhammad and Muhammad's former wife
might be called as defense witnesses to help establish Muhammad's domination
over Malvo (realistically speaking, Muhammad is about as likely to waive
his Fifth Amendment right not to testify as Malvo was during Muhammad's
trial). Arrangements are being made to move physical evidence from the
scene of Muhammad's trial to the scene of Malvo's trial.
November
10, 2003
Malvo pleads
not guilty, and jury selection begins
October
30, 2003
The
defense plans to introduce evidence about the 1996 murder of one of Malvo's
"close relatives", and argue that Malvo remained traumatized by the incident.