THE US: The jury that convicted US sniper John Muhammad of one of 10 fatal shootings that terrorised the Washington area failed to agree yesterday on whether he should live or die for his crimes.
The panel of seven women and five men broke off death penalty deliberations in Virginia Beach city after a half-day session and will reconvene on Monday.
Before adjourning, jurors asked Judge LeRoy Millette what would happen if they failed to reach a unanimous decision on a possible death sentence for Muhammad. "We have spent six weeks on this trial and I would simply urge you to continue to deliberate," Judge Millette said. He also warned jurors not to do any outside legal research into the death penalty, as one juror had suggested.
This jury found Muhammad guilty on Monday of two capital murder counts, conspiracy and a weapons charge in the death of Dean Meyers, a Maryland man who was gunned down at a gas station outside Manassas, in Washington's Virginia suburbs.
The murder counts include one of multiple murder, involving Meyers's death and one other killing within a three-year period, and one of murder committed as an act of terrorism, a provision of a Virginia anti-terrorism law enacted after the September 11th, 2001 hijack attacks.
The only possible penalties for the 42-year-old Gulf War veteran are execution or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Meyers's death was one of 10 seemingly random sniper killings in and around the US capital in October 2002 that have been linked to Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, 18-year-old Lee Malvo, who is on trial in neighbouring Chesapeake, Virginia in a separate murder case.
Jurors yesterday heard prosecution arguments that Muhammad's conduct was so vile, and that he would be so dangerous if allowed to live, that the only appropriate sentence was death.
Virginia prosecutor James Willett also suggested that the decision on punishment in this case would send a message to others who might target innocent Americans. Defence attorney Jonathan Shapiro portrayed Muhammad as a man whose life once had worth and value, and played old home videos of Muhammad and his children in 1992 and 1993. - (Reuters)