Jury deciding life or death for teen sniper
Deliberations to resume Tuesday
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CNN's Elaine Quijano reports on the burden faced by the jury deciding whether teen sniper Lee Malvo will live or die.
A jury finds Lee Boyd Malvo guilty on all three counts in the Washington sniper killings.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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| MALVO: WHAT'S NEXT |
Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, was convicted of three crimes:
• Capital murder/terrorism
• Capital murder/killing more than one in a three-year period.
• Use of a firearm in a felony.
JURY'S CHOICES
For the capital offenses, the jury has three options.
• Death
• Life without parole.
• Life without parole and a fine not to exceed $100,000.
• The handgun charge carries a mandatory three-year sentence.
SENTENCING REQUIREMENTS
Before the jury can impose the death penalty, prosecutors must prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" at least one of the following aggravating circumstances:
• Future dangerousness: That, after consideration of his history and background, there is a probability that he would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuous serious threat to society
• Depravity of mind: That his conduct in committing the offense was outrageously or wantonly vile horrible or inhuman, in that it involved depravity of mind.
• Even if the jury finds "future dangerousness" and "depravity of mind," they can opt to spare the defendant's life.
• If there is a hung jury, Malvo will receive the lesser sentence (life).
• Once the jury sentences Malvo, the judge will set a hearing date several weeks/months away, and will affirm or reject the jury's sentence. The judge can only decrease the sentence, she cannot increase it.
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CHESAPEAKE, Virginia (CNN) -- A Virginia jury will resume deliberations Tuesday over whether convicted Washington, D.C.-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo should be put to death or spend the rest of his life behind prison bars.
Jurors spent about three hours meeting Monday without reaching a decision. They will reconvene at 9 a.m. EST Tuesday.
The deliberations began after prosecutors Monday urged jurors to opt for a death sentence for Malvo, saying he has failed to show "an ounce of remorse" for the "outrageous" October 2002 killing spree.
Defense attorneys pleaded for the eight-woman, four-man jury to have mercy on their client, who was 17 during last year's sniper attacks.
Malvo was found guilty last week of terrorism, capital murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin on October 14, 2002, during a three-week series of sniper attacks in the Washington area that killed 10 people and wounded three. (Full story)
During closing arguments of the penalty phase, Malvo's lawyers argued that he was brainwashed by convicted accomplice John Allen Muhammad.
"Lee was uniquely susceptible to becoming attached to a father figure and the charismatic personage of John Muhammad," defense attorney Craig Cooley said.
In closing arguments, prosecutor James Horan contrasted excerpts from Malvo's statement to police after his arrest with crime-scene photos of his victims, disputing defense contentions that the teenager had felt remorse for the killings.
"Is the behavior of this defendant so outrageous that the penalty of death is called for? Is the behavior so outrageous?" Horan asked. "We submit, based on the evidence that is already before you, that the penalty of death is the appropriate verdict at this stage."
Horan played Malvo's taped confession which he mimicked the sound of sniper victim James "Sonny" Buchanan's lawn mover and admitting he killed Pascal Charlot, a 72-year-old Washington man shot while crossing a street. He noted that shortly before his murder, Buchanan had spent hours on a porch, rocking in a chair while talking to his mother.
"That mother now sits in one of those rocking chairs waiting for a son who will never come home," he said. "That's vileness -- the uncaring attitude not only of those you killed but what you took away from others."
Muhammad, 42, who was found guilty last month in the sniper killings and faces a February sentencing date after a jury decided he should be executed. (Full story)
Defense attorneys say Malvo was separated from his father as a young child and attended 10 schools as he was uprooted repeatedly by his mother during their life in the Caribbean islands, leaving him vulnerable to Muhammad's influence.
Cooley said friends all described Muhammad as "a pied piper for children."
In rebuttal to prosecutors, Malvo's attorneys called on the jury to reject "the voices of vengeance and retribution.
" We are about to entrust the life of this child to you," defense attorney Cooley said. "In a very real sense, you are the last in a very long line of caretakers. Exercise your compassion."
Earlier Monday, Malvo's father, Leslie Malvo, described how his son wanted to be a pilot and loved to wear an aviator's jacket his father bought for him. But Judge Jane Marum Roush urged defense lawyers to limit his testimony, since he had already taken the stand once during the five-week trial.
"The two of us would watch the planes coming down," he said in a report from The Associated Press. "Lee loved it very much."
Roush also refused to allow into evidence a letter Malvo's lawyers said was evidence of their client's remorse for the killings. His lawyers said the letter was written in May to Carmeta Albarus, who was hired to investigate Malvo's background.
"It was significant because in the 14 years I've done this and the 300 cases I've worked nationwide, I've never received a letter like that," Albarus said.
But Horan said the letter gives "no indication of remorse," and Roush ruled it inadmissible.
Albarus testified Monday that Malvo became emotional when she told him that she visited Maryland during October's sniper killings and could have been among the victims. She said she "did for Lee what I called the gas station jig" -- moving back and forth so as to avoid being shot.
"He looked up to me, and the realization hit him and the eyes again welled up with tears, and he just looked down and he was silent for a pretty long time," Albarus said.
CNN Correspondent Elaine Quijano and Producer Mike Ahlers 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.
