Cops: Sniper Suspects Tied to Ga. Killing

Nov. 7, 2002 -- The suspects in the string of sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area last month will be tried first in Virginia, where both could face the death penalty, officials said today, as police said evidence linked the pair to yet another killing.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the legal plans today for trying John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, just hours after police in Atlanta said the two were linked to a killing there.

Ballistics tests matched the gun used to kill a 41-year-old liquor store clerk in Atlanta shortly after midnight on Sept. 21 to the gun dropped at another killing blamed on the suspects in Montgomery, Ala., later that day, police said.

Million Woldemarian, an Ethiopian immigrant, was shot outside Sammy's Package Store on Martin Luther King Drive in southwest Atlanta as he investigated a suspicious car, police said.

Then, 150 miles away, after night fell, a woman was fatally shot and another wounded outside a Montgomery, Ala., liquor store during a holdup, police have said. The handgun later was recovered near the scene.

"It was good police work [that] linked the two shootings," Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington said. "We don't have any eyewitnesses. All we have is forensic evidence that was recovered."

Pennington said his department will work closely with the task force pursuing the sniper investigation in Maryland, Virginia and the nation's capital.

Facing Death Penalty in Virginia

Muhammad and Malvo are being investigated in more than 20 shootings across the country, including 15 in the Washington, D.C., area.

They were transferred today from a Baltimore prison to Virginia, where they will be tried individually in different counties.

Federal charges against Muhammad were withdrawn earlier in the day, clearing the way for Virginia to try the two first among the competing jurisdictions.

"We believe the first prosecutions should occur in those jurisdictions that have the best law, the best facts and the best range of available penalties," Ashcroft said, without specifying the exact facts that led authorities toward their course.

"It is important — it is imperative — that the ultimate sanction be available for those that committed these crimes," Ashcroft added.

Next to Texas, Virginia has carried out more executions — 86 — than any state since 1976. And since Virginia also executes juveniles, both Muhammad and Malvo would be eligible for the death penalty.

Muhammad's attorney said in a statement that the federal government was not motivated by justice, but sought the easiest venue to condemn both suspects to death.

"It seems shameful that the venue's rate of executions drove where justice would be sought in the case of John Muhammad," said Jim Wyda. "Mr. Muhammad's case will now be transferred to a venue where there is no public defender system and funding for indigent defense is scarce. The government's clumsy macabre forum shopping for the cheapest and easiest venue to obtain the death penalty against my client diminishes our system of justice."

Muhammad's case is expected to tried by Prince William County prosecutor Paul Ebert, who has sent more people to death row than any other Virginia prosecutor. Malvo's case is expected to be tried by Fairfax County prosecutor Bob Horan.

The First Cases

Ashcroft said he and other prosecutors conferred with the task force and other investigators to determine the best jurisdictions to first try Muhammad and Malvo.

In Prince William County, Muhammad faces charges of capital murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and using a firearm in the commission of murder, Ashcroft said. If convicted, he could get the death penalty.

On Oct. 9, in Prince William County, Dean Meyers was shot to death while gassing up his car in Manassas, Va.

Malvo, who Ashcroft referred to only as "the juvenile," first will be tried in Fairfax County on charges of capital murder and using a firearm in the commission of murder, Ashcroft said. If convicted as an adult, he could face the death penalty.

On Oct. 14, in Fairfax County, Linda Franklin, an FBI analyst, breast cancer survivor and 41-year-old mother of two, was shot to death at a Home Depot in Falls Church, Va.

Stolen Gun

In another development, a Tacoma, Wash., gun shop says the Bushmaster rifle allegedly used by the snipers appears to have been stolen.

The manager of Bull's Eye Shooter Supply said she called federal agents and Tacoma police Wednesday to report the theft, which possibly took place sometime between July and October. Workers at the shop say they never noticed the rifle's disappearance until federal agents asked about it last week.

Agents reportedly searched the store looking for records associated with the gun's purchase, but came up empty-handed.

ABCNEWS' Beverley Lumpkin, Pierre Thomas, Ellen Davis and John Boril, of ABCNEWS affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle, contributed to this report.