May 15, 2006 11:01 am US/Eastern
Third Week Of Sniper Trial Examines Final Killing
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) ―
The final victim of the October 2002 sniper spree that left 10 people dead throughout the national capital region described to police how he'd been shot before succumbing to his injuries, a police officer testified Monday at the Maryland trial of convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad.
"He told me the shot came from the woods," said Montgomery County police officer James Cherry, the first officer on the scene where bus driver Conrad Johnson was shot. "He told me he had been shot in the chest."
Johnson died in the early morning hours of Oct. 22, 2002, as he stood in his bus in Aspen Hill before his shift began. Two days later, Muhammad and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested at a highway rest stop near Myersville, Md., with a Bushmaster rifle believed used in the shootings in their trunk.
Muhammad is on trial for the deaths of James Martin, Premkumar Walekar, James "Sonny" Buchanan, Sarah Ramos, Lori Lewis Rivera and Johnson.
But Montgomery County prosecutors have detailed each of the 10 killings and three woundings in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington in the order they occurred during the three week spree in October 2002, as they try to demonstrate a pattern.
Last week, the three people who survived attacks told jurors of the confusion, fear and pain they felt when they realized they had been struck by sniper bullets. Family members of those who died also took the stand, describing their shock when they learned of the killings.
Monday, Johnson's widow, Denise, testified that she saw her husband's bus on television as reports came in of another sniper shooting. She did not know, though, that it was his bus until her mother-in-law called and told her that Conrad had been shot and taken to the hospital. Muhammad, acting as his own lawyer, did not cross-examine her.
Muhammad, 45, has already been convicted and sentenced to death in Virginia for one of the sniper killings. But he claims he is innocent, saying in his opening statement that he and Malvo were simply in the area to look for Muhammad's children, who had been taken by his ex-wife.
Muhammad, in his questioning of witnesses, has tried to show that no one saw him fire the fatal shots and that another weapon other than his rifle could have been used. He suggests the memories of witnesses who saw him near shooting scenes may have been influenced by heavy media coverage after his arrest.
Prosecutors are expected to begin their forensics case against Muhammad soon. That will likely include ballistics evidence tying most of the sniper bullets to the Bushmaster. Prosecutors have also said they have DNA evidence found at several crime scenes and on the gun that matches Muhammad and Malvo.
Malvo is scheduled to go on trial in the fall for the same six killings, but may plead guilty and testify against Muhammad.
The pair is also tied to shootings in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Washington state.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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