Muhammad Begins Fight For Life

Was John Allen Muhammad a man who tenderly looked after his children while they lived in a shelter, or a callous killer who deserves to die for masterminding the Washington area sniper shootings?

"Prosecutors want to continue to demonize Muhammad while defense attorneys want to try to humanize him and convince jurors that his is a life worth sparing," said CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen. "Those two themes are going to continue right on through closing arguments."

Muhammad's attorneys have their work cut out for them, he said.

"Jurors showed through their verdicts that they already believe that Muhammad was fully responsible for the sniper attacks and that's got to help prosecutors immensely as they try to get a death sentence against him," Cohen said.

A jury on Monday found Muhammad, 42, guilty on all four counts he faced, including capital murder charges of causing terror and killing more than one person in a three-year span. He also was convicted on a conspiracy and a firearms charge.

The penalty phase of Muhammad's trial will include testimony from relatives of his victim, Dean Harold Meyers. Muhammad could get life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In their opening statements during the penalty phase Monday, Muhammad's attorneys said they would show their client was a loving father to his three young children, a man who once had a steady job and friends before his life unraveled when he lost the children in a custody battle with his former wife.

Defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro described how Muhammad made sure his children went to school even while they all lived in a shelter. Shapiro's description of Muhammad brushing their teeth prompted his client to hang his head — a rare show of emotion from the man who sat stone-faced through most of his four-week trial.

"There is a life to be weighed; there is a life on the line," Shapiro said.

"Given their quick verdicts, there is no reason to think that jurors will be receptive to that pitch," said Cohen.

First on the stand was Isa Nichols, reports CBS News Correspondent Barry Bagnato. She helped Muhammad's wife during a custody dispute. A 21-year-old niece who was staying with her in Tacoma, Wash., Keenya Cook, was shot in the face and killed last year in the doorway of Nichols home. Ballistic tests show the gun was one that Muhammad had borrowed.

"He can be very serious, very concerned and joking. He can also be intimidating and angry," Nichols testified.

Nichols said Muhammad's wife was afraid her husband "was going to destroy her."

Prince William County prosecutors must show that Muhammad would present a future danger or that the crimes demonstrate "a depravity of mind." Prosecutor Richard Conway said there is no chance Muhammad will be rehabilitated in prison.

"This is a case where the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment," Conway said.

But Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. handed prosecutors a loss Monday, ruling they cannot present testimony from relatives of victims killed in other shootings.

The prosecution had tied Muhammad and his alleged partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, to shootings throughout the Washington region and the Southeast as far back as early 2002. Millette approved a defense motion limiting the testimony to the family of Dean Meyers, who was killed at a Manassas gas station Oct. 9, 2002 and for whose murder Muhammad was convicted.

Most of the evidence linking Muhammad to the Meyers killing presented during the trial was circumstantial, and his lawyers argued there was no proof he was the killer or even planned the shooting.

Prosecutors argued that didn't matter, saying Muhammad exerted such control over the young Malvo that the two created a "killing team" bent on murder.

Prosecutors said they would present evidence during sentencing that Muhammad plotted to escape from a Prince William detention center in March, proving he is not fit to live in prison. The plan was discovered, and Muhammad was placed in solitary confinement.

Conway also said at least two other shootings are linked to Muhammad. In one case, a bullet was shot through a Tacoma, Wash., synagogue. Conway suggested Muhammad was behind the crime, hinting at anti-Semitic statements that Muhammad allegedly made.

Following Monday's verdict, victims' relatives said Muhammad should die for the murders.

"I can't think of too many more heinous crimes than this one," said Robert Meyers, Dean Meyers' brother.

"About the only bit of good news for Muhammad was a ruling from the judge that only the family members of Meyers could testify about the impact his death had on their lives," said Cohen. "That means that there will be no parade of family members of other sniper victims and that's got to help Muhammad's chances of avoiding a death penalty."

Also Monday, Fairfax County prosecutors opened their capital murder case against Malvo in nearby Chesapeake. He faces the same murder charges as Muhammad for allegedly killing FBI analyst Linda Franklin Oct. 14, 2002 in Falls Church.

Franklin's husband, William Franklin, testified briefly about the night his wife was shot in the parking garage of a Home Depot store. He said he heard a loud noise and felt what turned out to be his wife's blood hit him on the side of the face.

Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush refused to allow prosecutors to play a tape of the 911 call Franklin made to report his wife's death, which was admitted into evidence during Muhammad's trial.