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by Alex DeMetrick
Rockville, MD (AP) ― An outburst from an angry and apparently confused John Allen Muhammad creates tension during his trial in Rockville today.

While cross examining an FBI forensics expert, DeMetrick reports that Muhammad's seemed to have trouble. When the expert told Muhammad he didn't understand a question he had asked, Muhammad threw down his notepad before exclaiming, "The questions can't be any simpler!"

The expert said Thursday that Muhammad's DNA matched samples taken from the sight for a Bushmaster rifle used in the October 2002 sniper killings and was a possible match for DNA from other sniper evidence.

Muhammad's DNA was found on the sight, which was in a duffel bag in Muhammad's Chevrolet Caprice when he and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested Oct. 24, 2002 after the three-week shooting spree, said FBI DNA inspector Brendan Shea.

Muhammad's DNA was also a potential match for some of the genetic material found on the butt of the Bushmaster, as well as a pen and a bag of raisins from two different shooting scenes. Malvo's DNA was recovered from several spots on the gun.

The FBI's testimony came as prosecutors began building their scientific case against Muhammad for six Maryland sniper killings October 2002. Jurors have already heard details about the six crimes, along with four other sniper deaths and three woundings in the Washington area during the three-week stretch.

Muhammad, who is acting as his own lawyer, continued his aggressive questioning of witnesses Thursday morning. He bombarded Shea with questions, sometimes demanding just a yes or no answer, as he tried to discredit the investigator's forensic results. At one point, Muhammad and Assistant State's Attorney Vivek Chopra shouted at each other as Chopra tried to object.

Muhammad suggested the tests may be flawed, saying authorities did not "take away" DNA samples from Muhammad and Malvo to compare to the evidence until several weeks after Shea said he conducted his comparisons. Muhammad implied the samples Shea used for the tests, just days after the arrest, were not his.

"Isn't it true that if you did not have my DNA on that day, you could not have tested it?" Muhammad asked. Shea said the sample he had was labeled as Muhammad's.

Muhammad has already been convicted and sentenced to death in Virginia for his role in the sniper spree in the Washington area that left 10 dead and three wounded. His current trial is for the six killings that occurred in Montgomery County.

Malvo is serving a life term for another Virginia sniper killing and is charged with the same six Maryland killings, but will likely plead guilty and testify against Muhammad.

The pair are also suspected of earlier shootings in Maryland, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington state.

On Wednesday, jurors saw the 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with a small hole in the trunk. Prosecutors say the hole was for a rifle barrel, and that a shooter lay in the closed trunk to fire the Bushmaster undetected.

Investigators tore apart much of the Caprice's interior in their search for evidence. The car jurors saw had much of its flooring and door panels ripped off. The hub caps had been removed. The back seat, which prosecutors said could be folded down so someone could lie in the trunk and fire the gun through the hole, was dislodged.

The car, which Muhammad bought for $250, yielded a wealth of other evidence. Inside it investigators found two-way radios, a scrap of paper with the sniper task force tipline phone number, and a paper with a list of schools in the Baltimore area, among dozens of items.

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)