Suspect's Son: 'Reap What You Sow'
"You reap what you sow."
Those are the words of the oldest son of sniper suspect John Muhammad, in a CNN interview about his father.
"No matter what he was going through, and how hard it was, it doesn't give you the right to go out and shoot somebody," said Lindbergh Williams, 20, on "Larry King Live."
His mother, Carol Williams, is Muhammad's first ex-wife. She says that if it is true that he sat in a car and shot innocent people, she would not oppose his execution.
Both describe Muhammad as a very controlling person who was fascinated with guns. They also say he never treated them violently.
The jockeying continues among prosecutors over which trial will come first, as the formal charges pile up for 14 sniper shootings in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., which left ten people dead and three others seriously wounded.
Charges are also pending for an armed robbery in Alabama and authorities in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Tuesday said they want DNA samples to see if there is any link between three serial murders in Louisiana and sniper suspects Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.
Authorities say there's evidence the two may have been in Louisiana this past summer.
In Washington state, where authorities have linked the sniper suspects to two shootings, the Seattle Times reports more irregularities have been found at the gun shop which was the source for the weapon used in the sniper shootings.
The paper quotes unidentified law enforcement officials as saying that Bull's Eye Shooter Supply in Tacoma, which earlier couldn't produce a sales record for the sniper weapon, now can't produce records accounting for some 340 other guns.
Tuesday, federal authorities filed charges in the sniper case in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said the filing allows time for the investigation to continue so the best possible case can be brought, regardless of the venue. He said no decision has been made on which jurisdiction should go first, but the fact that both suspects - Muhammad, 41, and Malvo, 17 - are in federal custody gives Ashcroft great influence over that decision.
"I believe there is a great opportunity for us to cooperate to get the right results here, and I believe it will happen," Ashcroft said.
The complaint filed in court on Tuesday lists 20 firearms, extortion and interstate commerce counts against Muhammad. Malvo was not publicly charged because he is a juvenile. Ashcroft said a court must first certify that he should be treated as an adult within the federal system before authorities can even discuss his case.
Minors may be charged with capital crimes in federal court but cannot be executed.
Ashcroft said the complaint makes clear that U.S. officials seek "the most serious penalties" for the three-week spate of shootings in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., that left 10 dead and three seriously injured.
"I believe the ultimate sanction ought to be available here," Ashcroft said. "I consider the matters charged to be atrocities."
Because of that, Virginia may be the leading candidate to try the suspects first. Virginia allows the death penalty for 17-year-olds and since 1976 it has executed 86 people, more than any state but Texas. Virginia authorities filed capital murder charges Monday.
Despite Virginia's apparent advantages in trying death penalty cases, a senior Justice Department official cautioned that a final decision on where to hold the first trial would be based on other factors as well. These include the strength of the evidence and which laws - state or federal - provide the best chances for a conviction, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Maryland, Montgomery County prosecutor Doug Gansler has been insisting that he be allowed to go first because six of the murders occurred in that county.
But federal officials have repeatedly said that Maryland's death penalty laws, which require one of 10 aggravating circumstances for capital punishment to apply, make it highly unlikely the first trial would occur there. Maryland also has suspended executions and does not allow capital punishment for juveniles.
While Ashcroft said representatives of the different jurisdictions are talking about how to proceed, Gansler said he has not spoken with federal prosecutors since last week.
"We don't know when or if we will ever be able to bring this case to justice in Montgomery County. We don't know when we will learn from the Department of Justice," he said. "They hold all the cards."
In another nod to Virginia, the federal complaint does not cite any of the Virginia shootings in the counts. Those charges could be added later, however.
A senior Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Virginia cases were omitted "out of an abundance of caution" so Virginia could file its charges first.
If Virginia had not filed charges before the federal government, the official said the prosecutions could have run afoul of Virginia's unique double jeopardy laws; that is, being tried twice for the same crime.
Prosecutors in Montgomery, Ala., have filed capital murder charges against the pair for a shooting during a robbery last month outside a liquor store.
Authorities in Washington state suspect Muhammad and Malvo in the shooting death of a woman whose aunt once worked for Muhammad. They also said they believed the two fired shots at a synagogue there, but no charges have been filed in either case.