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. |
|
Monday, Dec. 22
5:12 p.m. After three hours of deliberation, the judge sent the jury home. They will return tomorrow at 9 a.m. to resume. The judge indicated at the beginning of the trial that there would be no court Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. If jurors do not conclude deliberations tomorrow, court would resume at 9 a.m. Monday.
1:13 p.m.
She told them that if they find that Malvo either poses a future threat to society or that the act was "outrageously or wantonly vile," they may impose death, but they do not have to. "Nothing in Virginia law requires you impose death," she said. Imprisonment for life, she told them, means exactly that: imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. Mitigating factors -– including age, character, education, mental history and background -– can and should be taken into account if the evidence supports it, she said. In his closing argument, Horan told the jury that Malvo met both criteria for the death penalty. "If there is such a thing as vileness, that is vileness," Horan said. "What they did to these innocent citizens is outrageously vile. It shows a depravity of mind that is hard to believe." He played a portion of the tape of the June Boyle interrogation to the jury in which Malvo’s calm boyish voice told her about shooting Linda G. Franklin in the head. Franklin was shot in the parking lot of a Home Depot near Falls Church, Va. on Oct. 14, 2002. Horan then went through many of the killings, showing the jury photographs of the victims alive and dead and playing snippets of the Boyle tape. "If that’s not vile," he said, "there is no vile." He then addressed the issue of Malvo being a future danger to society. He showed the jury drawings Malvo made, and read excerpts from them: "You can afford to be arrogant now, I’m in your custody. But make no mistake I would take you out at your dinner table." In another, Malvo wrote: "Sept. 11 we will ensure will look like a picnic to you. You would have wished it was my little ‘sniper attacks’." Horan said that in Malvo’s letters to another inmate, he reveals his intent to escape. He said, "He goes on many different times in many different ways, in essence saying ‘Keep your powder dry, watch these guys.’" "What’s particularly sinister about this defendant is there’s not an ounce of remorse," Horan said, adding that when Malvo does cry, "he’s crying for him. He’s not crying for all those people he killed." Maybe the plan was Muhammad’s, Horan said, but Malvo was "not only a major player, he is the sniper." Horan asked the jury to return the penalty of death, because the "evidence calls for it." Cooley then rose to give his closing argument. Cooley began by speaking to the jury about their concerns as parents for what happens to their children when they enter adolescence and become susceptible to peer pressure and outside influence. The lucky ones, he said, have at least one parent who cared for them. "We are shaped, there’s not such thing as a self-made man … or woman," he said. "Those were the formative years, 15, 16, 17 and 18." "Children are not born evil," Cooley said. "Lee was uniquely susceptible … Lee’s childhood was one of abandonment … Lee’s mother was abusive, and absent." By the time Malvo’s mother Una James abandoned her son in Antigua, Cooley said, "he was ripe for the picking." Cooley reminded the jury of the testimony of Lindbergh Williams, Muhammad’s son, who had said his father was a manipulative man who knew how to take advantage of people and almost turned him against his mother. Minors are different, Cooley said, they can’t serve on juries, drink alcohol, buy cigarettes or serve in the military. "His judgement and maturity and not sufficient," he said. "We live in a society that force-feeds violence on our children … we glorify vengeance and we glorify violent response to violence … Compassion and love are the measures of our humanity." He quotes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only love can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred, only love can do that." "The acts are despicable; the child is not. The acts are irredeemable; the child is not. It’s a test of our humanity to condemn the act, but love the child. That’s the challenge here today. … The choice is not one of death and no punishment. The choice is whether to take a human life or sentence this youngster to a lifetime of imprisonment." He held up a rock and talked about how in the past, people who were sentenced to death were stoned: "The stone is ungiving, unfeeling. The stone has no compassion, after you have cast it you can feel on your fingertips the grip of the stone. "The prosecution urges you to take up a stone." "Don’t be swayed by the voices of vengeance and retribution, but hold onto your compassion. The death penalty will last not only Lee’s abbreviated life but for the rest of your lives as well." He told them their minds will return to this courtroom many times. "Every person has worth and every person is redeemable," he said. Cooley asked them to pay attention to the third verse of "Silent Night" this Christmas. "There is grace and there is redeeming grace and it will come to Lee if his life is entitled to continue," he said. "The two greatest qualities human beings possess are compassion and love." He finished up by returning to the defense table, putting his hand on Malvo’s shoulder and asked the jury to save him. Horan got back up and said, "It’s not vengeance we ask for, it’s justice. The moment he stuck that gun in the face of Keenya Cook, he was no child." He flashed through photos of each of the victims, repeating, "We want justice." Horan talked about child prodigies. "Unfortunately we also see prodigies in evil," he said. "That’s no dummy sitting there. That’s a bright clever human being. He did what he did knowingly." The jury was then sent out at 12:55 p.m. to begin deliberations.
11:25 a.m.
For example, Cooley wanted language in the instructions that clarified that the jury does not have to choose the death penalty, even if all the criteria for it are met. They are never required to give a death sentence, Cooley said, even if the evidence is there, the jury can still choose life without parole. Court was recessed at 11:20 a.m. for 15 minutes. When they return, the judge said, the jury will hear closing arguments and hear the instructions. Then they will begin deliberating.
11:00 a.m.
At 9 a.m., an hour before court began, attorneys from both sides discussed the instructions that would be given to the jury. At 10 a.m., Judge Roush took the bench and asked the lawyers to continue the discussion in the afternoon, after the testimony was finished. Cooley told the court there three more witnesses would testify, which would not take more than an hour. Horan said that Malvo's father, Leslie Malvo should not testify, because he would not say anything different than what he had said during the guilt phase. "Hadn't seen him since he was about 10 years old," Horan said. "He sat on the witness stand and sobbed for 20 minutes about his precious son he hadn't seen in 10 years." The judge said that although a lot of mitigation came in during the guilt phase, which was unusual, she would allow Leslie Malvo to testify but the lawyers should "try to get to new ground that was not admissible during the guilt stage." "I would urge you to use some restraint and discretion," she said, adding that she would take up any issues with the testimony as they arose. After the jury was brought in, Cooley displayed a photograph of Malvo in a plaid shirt and slacks, holding a book at his side. The photo was taken shortly before he met Muhammad. The first witness of the day was Carmeta Albarus, the forensic social worker who had interviewed Malvo extensively and visited Jamaica to research Malvo's childhood. Albarus again told the jury about Malvo's breaking down and crying when he saw his aunt sing a hymn on a videotape. Albarus told the jury about how she told Malvo that during the sniper spree, she had been forced to do the "gas station jig" when she fueled up at Maryland gas stations. In reaction, she said, Malvo's eyes welled-up with tears. Albarus tried to refer to a letter that Malvo had written her, but the judge ruled that it was hearsay. Under Arif's questioning, Albarus told the jury that she met with Malvo Sunday night for 90 minutes and that he did not cry. The next witness was Leslie Malvo, Lee Boyd Malvo's father. In his short testimony, he struggled with tears as he recounted the time he spent with a young Malvo. He told the jury how Malvo's mother, Una James, would sew matching shirts for the three of them and they would wear them to the movies on Sundays. The last witness for the defense was Reverend Al Archer, executive director of the Lighthouse Mission in Bellingham, Wash. Archer told the jury that he has maintained contact with Malvo since he was arrested, telling him to keep the faith. "When I first met Lee he appeared to be very young," Archer said, adding that he knew Malvo was not Muhammad's son and was someone who had been picked up "along the way." Archer said he was concerned that if he raised objections with Muhammad about Malvo's safety, "he would have taken this child and ran." He told the jury he hoped the FBI, whom he called about Muhammad, would show up and intervene. The witness was excused and the defense rested. Horan said he had no rebuttal. The judge sent the jury out so that the lawyers could finish working on the jury instructions and closing arguments. After those are agreed upon, they will be read to the jury who will then begin deliberations. --- Click here for Friday's coverage.
|
|
|
||||||||||
