Rockville, Md.
John Allen Muhammad, the “Beltway sniper” who terrorized the Washington, D.C., area in late 2002, was convicted this week of six murders in Maryland. A Virginia jury had previously convicted Muhammad and sentenced him to die for a murder there. Muhammad, 45, served as his own lawyer in the Maryland trial, at one point engaging in a tense cross-examination of Lee Boyd Malvo, his 21-year-old accomplice. Malvo and Muhammad shot 13 people during their spree, killing 10. Muhammad wanted to kill many more, Malvo testified, for “the sheer terror of it.” Malvo also said the pair discussed an extortion scheme by which they hoped to collect $10 million from authorities in exchange for an end to the shootings. Maryland prosecutors said they put Muhammad on trial as insurance, in case his Virginia conviction is overturned on appeal.
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