The US: Mr Lee Malvo, the 18-year-old sniper suspect linked to 10 killings in the Washington area, entered three pleas of "not guilty" yesterday at the opening of his trial for the murder of an FBI analyst.
Wearing a blue striped crew-neck sweater that made him look like a student, Mr Malvo stood with his lawyers at Chesapeake Circuit Court as Judge Jane Roush read the charges against him.
"Not guilty," Mr Malvo replied when asked for his pleas on two counts of murder and a weapons violation in the death of Linda Franklin, an FBI analyst fatally shot as she loaded purchases into her car at a parking lot in Falls Church, Virginia, on October 14th, 2002.
He also responded with a polite "Yes, ma'am," to a series of questions from the judge, posed to determine his knowledge of the charges against him.
Mr Malvo's trial, like that of his 42-year-old travelling companion Mr John Muhammad, was moved some 320 km southeast from the US capital's Virginia suburbs, in search of an unbiased jury, something deemed impossible in the region where the 23-day sniper spree took place last year.
Though they are on trial for different murders, both defendants could face execution if convicted.
Both are charged with two counts of murder for a single death, and both trials offer a test of Virginia's new anti-terrorism law, enacted after the September 11th, 2001, attacks.
Defence attorneys in Mr Malvo's case plan an insanity defence, arguing that their young client was brainwashed by Mr Muhammad.
Prosecutors in Mr Muhammad's trial in nearby Virginia Beach were winding down their case, which has included recordings of anguished calls for help and emotional testimony from victims who survived the sniper shootings and family members of the dead. - (Reuters)