Sniper trial begins

last updated 8 January 2015

Virginia Beach

John Allen Muhammad went on trial this week in Virginia for the sniper murder of Dean Meyers, who was killed outside Washington, D.C., last year as he was gassing up his car. Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, have been accused of terrorizing the Washington area last fall by shooting 13 people, apparently selected at random, as they went about their daily lives. Malvo has said that he won’t provide any damning testimony about Muhammad, 42, a man he once called “Dad.” But the teenager’s attorneys said recently that when Malvo went on trial next month, they would rely on an insanity defense and contend that Muhammad brainwashed Malvo.