News
Entertainment
|
|
Gazette reporter Agnes Blum is covering the trial of Lee Boyd Malvo in
Chesapeake, Va. She will be posting to this site several times each day
to update readers on the events of the trial. Malvo is charged with killing Linda G. Franklin, the ninth victim in a spate of October 2002 shootings that killed 10 and wounded three. John Allen Muhammad was convicted and sentenced to death for the crimes in a separate trial; click here for our coverage of his trial. For background on the shootings, see www.gazette.net/sniper. For our print coverage and archives of the online journal, please look at the righthand column of this page. |
|
Wednesday, Dec. 17
5:15 p.m. At 4:49 p.m., the judge told the lawyers for both sides that the jury had asked a series of questions that would take a while to answer, so she was sending them home. Judge Roush told the jury to return at 9 a.m. tomorrow to resume deliberations. She then discussed some of their questions with the lawyers, including a concern about the definition of the word "malice," which contains the phrase "mind of the actor is under the control of reason" in the jury instructions. Malice is one of the criteria that must be met for the jury to come back with a guilty verdict. Horan said he was concerned the jurors were confusing the sanity definition with the definition of malice. (For the jury to find a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity, they only must believe that the defense proved insanity by a "preponderance of evidence," which is slightly more than half. This is a much lighter burden of proof than reasonable doubt.) The judge said the jury instructions contained the definition of malice and that she would not define it any further. Judge Roush also said the jury wants to see the car again, but she thought it might cause too much "mischief." "I will tell them the car is not available," she said, "and they should just rely on their recollection." The judge said she would write out her answers and give them to the jury tomorrow.
4:45 p.m.
1:14 p.m.
In the media room across the street, reporters are waiting for a verdict. Heavy rain has pounded the roof of the gymnasium on and off all morning. The reporters sit in rows in front of the closed-circuit television, one eye on the courtroom, reading the paper and chatting. They speculate about what the verdict will be, guessing when it will come in. Everyone is hoping the trial will be wrapped up by Christmas. The ranks have swelled in the past day or so as reporters from news organizations, such as Reuters, who have not been here for the whole trial, have showed up to cover the verdict. In the room next door, where there is Internet access, about two dozen reporters, photographers and producers sit in front of laptops and radio transmitters. Efforts to make the sterile room seem cozy are evident -– a coffee maker, a miniature Christmas tree festooned with lights, a giant red ornament and a nearby birthday cake. Several of the reporters covering the trial –- including this one! -- are celebrating birthdays this week, far from family and friends.
10:22 a.m.
The judge entered the courtroom at 9:20 a.m. and corrected a mistake, pointed out by the media, in the jury instructions. The phrase "act of terrorism" should be stricken from the language of the second charge, she said. That charge referred to the killing of more than one person within a three-year period. John Allen Muhammad was convicted on the terrorism charge in his trial last month. --- In a hoarse voice, Cooley said that although he recognizes that all those killed or injured during the sniper shootings were victims, only Linda G. Franklin is legally the victim in these charges and that only her family should be able to give testimony about victim impact if the case enters the sentencing phase. Morrogh said that nothing in the statute limits whom the judge can allow to testify. The judge sided with the prosecution, ruling that victims of other shootings and their family members may testify. Morrogh did not specify how many witnesses he plans to call. --- Click here for yesterday's coverage.
|
|
|
|||||||||
