WASHINGTON — Lawyers for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo informed a northern Virginia judge Thursday that the teenager plans to mount an insanity defense at his murder trial next month, claiming that "indoctrination" by co-defendant John Allen Muhammad led to his alleged involvement in the killing spree.
Defense attorney Craig Cooley said examinations by privately retained mental health experts determined that Malvo had been powerfully swayed by the 42-year-old Muhammad. Defense lawyers will enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity on Malvo's behalf because "this case is so bizarre in its facts, and the degree of indoctrination is so severe," Cooley said.
Fairfax County Commonwealth Atty. Robert F. Horan Jr., the lead prosecutor, scoffed at Malvo's legal claim as "late-blooming insanity." Horan said the 18-year-old suspect had been interviewed "over and over" by a court-appointed mental health analyst, who found no evidence of insanity.
"We had a report from the court expert a month ago, and nowhere in that report does it say anything about his failure to know right from wrong," Horan said.
Malvo's move scrambled the dynamics of his trial, now scheduled for Nov. 10. An insanity plea would in effect be an admission that Malvo had participated in the slayings.
But it also would aid the defense by allowing Malvo's lawyers to fashion a coherent explanation of the teen's actions -- and offer humanizing evidence that might persuade jurors not to vote for the death penalty if he is convicted.
"It's a smart and logical move by the defense," said William Fitzpatrick, a criminal defense lawyer who formerly worked as a prosecutor in neighboring Loudoun County, Va. "It allows them to claim that their client was a drone to Muhammad."
But Horan said the defense team's move would not force prosecutors to alter their trial strategies. "Whether he's pleading straight not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity, we still have to prove the same set of facts," the prosecutor said.
Malvo is charged in the Oct. 14 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, who was shot to death as she and her husband approached their car in a parking garage outside a suburban Virginia Home Depot. Malvo and Muhammad also face charges in nine killings in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., during the shooting spree that terrorized the nation's capital. The pair also has been linked to shootings in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Washington state.
