The murder and terrorism trial of Mr John Muhammad, the older of two suspects in the sniper shootings that jolted Washington a year ago could turn on one simple point: did he pull the trigger?
If a Virginia jury finds him guilty, the case then would focus on an equally stark question: should Muhammad live or die? Another jury will decide what should happen to his young traveling companion, Mr Lee Malvo, an 18-year-old who is to be tried as an adult on separate murder charges.
Muhammad, a 42-year-old Vietnam veteran, goes on trial on Tuesday in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for the shooting death of a 53-year-old Maryland man gunned down as he refueled his car in Manassas, Virginia, on October 9th, 2002.
The trial was moved 200 miles (320 km) away in hopes of finding an unbiased jury, something deemed impossible in the Washington area.
This death was one of 10 killings and three other gunshot woundings that terrorized the US capital and its suburbs for three weeks last autumn.
Mr Muhammad and Mr Malvo have been linked to 20 shootings, including 13 deaths, in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana.
Who pulled the trigger is important, because Mr Muhammad's lawyers maintain Mr Malvo did the shooting, while Mr Malvo's attorneys contend their client, who was 17 at the time, was brainwashed by Mr Muhammad.
Mr Malvo's team plans an insanity defence when he goes on trial on November 10th in Chesapeake, Virginia.