Malvo was good child, relatives and acquaintances testify
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Lee Boyd Malvo's aunt, Marie Lawrence, passes Malvo as she leaves the witness stand in tears after testifying Tuesday.
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CNN's Patty Davis reports that relatives of sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo testified about the teenager's childhood in Jamaica.
Malvo's father testified as the first defense witness in the case against his 18-year-old son.
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CHESAPEAKE, Virginia (CNN) -- The aunt of the teenager on trial for one of last year's deadly sniper shootings left the witness stand in tears Tuesday after she recalled an obedient boy she twice took into her home.
Marie Lawrence testified that Malvo and his mother came to live with them when he was 5, and later, by himself, at age 8 or 9. She described Malvo as "very obedient."
"He tries to obey, because I don't joke," she said. If he misbehaved "he would get the strap," she said.
Lawrence's testimony punctuated a morning of defense witnesses who told the courtroom of Malvo's childhood in the Caribbean that was marked by happy, obedient behavior before the boy's meeting of alleged accomplice John Allen Muhammad.
The 18-year-old Malvo is accused of being the gunman in the shooting death of Linda Franklin on October 14, 2002, at a store parking lot in Falls Church, Virginia. He is charged with killing Franklin in the commission of an act of terrorism, the killing of more than one person in a three-year period and unlawful use of a firearm during commission of a crime. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted of the killing and terrorism counts.
Malvo has pleaded not guilty to the charges from last year's Washington, D.C.-area killing spree, which left 10 people dead and three wounded.
In taped statements played for jurors last week, Malvo described details of the killings for detectives and said he was the triggerman in most of them. (Full story) Malvo told police he was giving statements in order to protect Muhammad, whom he referred to as his father. There is no legal relationship between the two.
Defense lawyers argue that Muhammad brainwashed the teen into participating in the attacks. (More on the insanity defense) Malvo's attorneys also argue that the teenager's unstable childhood, as well as a Jamaican culture that emphasized discipline and obedience, made Malvo especially susceptible to Muhammad's influence.
A jury in nearby Virginia Beach on Monday recommended that Muhammad should be sentenced to death for his role in the sniper killings. (Full story)
Muhammad was transferred from Virginia Beach to the Prince William County jail Tuesday to await formal sentencing early next year, authorities said.
Proceedings were adjourned Tuesday afternoon for the Thanksgiving holiday and will resume Monday, court officials said.
Most of the 12 defense witnesses who testified were Malvo's relatives, teachers and classmates during his childhood in the Caribbean islands, several of whom said they had expressed concern about Malvo being moved from town to town and school to school by his mother.
Malvo avoided confrontation, friend recalls
In Tuesday testimony, Marie Lawrence said Malvo's mother, Una James, came to reclaim him at age 10 after he had passed a high school entrance examination.
James approved the designation of Muhammad as the boy's guardian, the principal of a school that Malvo attended testified Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.
Muhammad once identified himself as Malvo's uncle, Rosalind Aaron testified. Aaron, the principal of a Seventh-Day Adventist school on the Caribbean island of Antigua, described Malvo as "intelligent, respectful and jovial," the AP reported.
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John Benjamin Lawrence, uncle of Lee Boyd Malvo, arrives at the Chesapeake, Virginia, courthouse Tuesday to testify in Malvo’s defense.
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Malvo met Muhammad at age 15, and eventually left the Caribbean and moved to Washington state to be with the 42-year-old man.
In other testimony Tuesday, Esmie McLeod, an administrator at York Castle High School in Jamaica, said her son was friends with Malvo when both were students there. She said her son became concerned because Malvo was repeatedly uprooted from various homes.
McLeod said she told Malvo's mother that "she was doing her son an injustice (by) moving him from place to place." McLeod was unable to describe James' response due to court rules barring hearsay evidence.
"I told her she had a lovely child, so I wished her all the best," McLeod said.
John Benjamin Lawrence, husband to Marie Lawrence, testified he had a "father-son" relationship with Malvo, who would volunteer to help around their farm.
Onyeka Nevins, a high school friend of Malvo's, described Malvo as hard working, respectful, obedient and disciplined. Nevins recalled one incident in which a larger boy threw Malvo to the ground while playing cricket, tearing his pants.
"He got up and he brushed off his pants and he just turned and walked away."
Nevins said he asked him why he walked away. Malvo responded that "there was no profit" in confronting his attacker. "Walk away from all forms of confrontation and let peace and love prevail," Nevins said, paraphrasing Malvo.
Malvo's defense opened Monday with tearful testimony from his father, Leslie Malvo, who described buying his son ice cream, teaching him to kick a ball and ride a bicycle, encouraging him to draw and playing dominoes with him until the boy was 5. But he said he never taught his son how to use a gun.
Defense attorney Craig Cooley said in his opening statement that Malvo's mother left their home in Antigua with her son when the boy was around 5. Leslie Malvo described returning from a job in the Cayman Islands to find that his family and money had disappeared.
CNN producers Mike M. Ahlers and Laura Bernardini contributed to this report.
Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
