Sniper Won't Face Death In Maryland

Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against convicted Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad when he goes on trial in May, the Montgomery County state's attorney said.

Prosecutor Douglas Gansler said that "underlying the entire decision was the fact that Muhammad has received a death sentence in Virginia."

According to the prosecutor's office, the county is obligated to try Muhammad for the shootings even though he has been convicted in Virginia.

Muhammad, 45, was sentenced to death after being convicted in a sniper shooting in Manassas, Va. Lee Boyd Malvo, 20, who also is a defendant in the case, was sentenced to life in prison for a shooting in Falls Church, Va.

Ten people were killed in the Washington area during a three-week shooting spree in October 2002. Of those, six were shot in Montgomery. Authorities also have linked Muhammad and Malvo to shootings in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington state.

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year barring the execution of juvenile killers prevented Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, from facing the death penalty.

Gansler filed notice last month with the county's Circuit Court that he would seek life without possibility of parole if Muhammad is convicted of the six Montgomery deaths, the Washington Post reported in a story to be published Friday.

Gansler said Maryland requires prosecutors to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Muhammad was the triggerman to pursue the death penalty. The law also requires proof that two or more people were killed in a single incident. Maryland has only executed five people since the death penalty was restored in the late 1970s.

"Given space and time and distance, the multiple murders would not satisfy legal definition of single incident," Gansler said.

Muhammad was moved to Maryland from Virginia in August, and his trial is set to begin May 1. Malvo was brought to Maryland in May and his trial is set for October. Both men are charged with six counts of first-degree murder in Montgomery County.