Murder Charge Upheld for Sniper Suspect
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A judge refused to dismiss one of the two capital murder charges against sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, rejecting claims that prosecutors are overreaching in trying to apply Virginia’s new terrorism law to the crime spree.
The ruling from Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. in Manassas is the first on Virginia’s untested terrorism law, passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Muhammad faces the death penalty under two statutes in the shootings. Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo have been linked to 20 shootings, including 13 deaths, in Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and the District of Columbia.
Muhammad, 42, is charged with capital murder in the Oct. 9 slaying of Dean H. Meyers, 53, outside a gas station just north of Manassas.
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