Muhammad Questions Shootings' Witnesses

Sniper Suspect's Calm Side Emerges As Testimony Starts

Sniper John Allen Muhammad was in control of his defense.

He asked short, pointed questions yesterday, the first day of testimony in his Montgomery County trial, as jurors heard from a string of police officers and paramedics, as well as people who said they saw his blue Chevrolet Caprice near two of the October 2002 shootings that horrified the Washington area.

He addressed witnesses politely and used a laser pointer on a map during his questioning, part of an apparent attempt to show the jury that none of the witnesses had direct knowledge of exactly where the two bullets came from or who was behind the trigger.

"Did you see who shot this person?" he asked a woman who was near James D. Martin, 55, when he was shot in the back Oct. 2 at a Shoppers Food Warehouse in Wheaton. "Did you see him before he got shot?"

Kimberly Sadelson answered no to both questions.

He declined to cross-examine only two witnesses yesterday: sisters of Martin and another victim, James L. "Sonny" Buchanan. The women had testified for the prosecution briefly to identify the men who were the first two people Muhammad allegedly killed in the Washington area.

"I wanted it to be over with," said Ola Martin-Border, 60, Martin's sister, who lives in St. Louis and had never before faced Muhammad. "I forgot to look at him," she said outside court.

She said she didn't dread the prospect of being cross-examined by Muhammad, who has been convicted of one sniper killing in Virginia and sentenced to death.

"I was ready for it," she said. "If he wanted to question me, I was ready."

The first day of testimony in the trial, which is expected to last as long as six weeks, moved along quickly. Court was adjourned shortly before 3 p.m. after every witness relevant to the first two of the six homicides in Montgomery had taken the stand.

Muhammad's performance yesterday stood in sharp contrast to his brief, erratic self-defense during the 2003 trial in Virginia, when he rehired his attorneys after tense exchanges with witnesses.

Claiming that the jury pool is tainted, he filed a motion Thursday asking Montgomery Circuit Court Judge James L. Ryan to move the trial. Ryan, who previously refused a similar request from Muhammad, has not ruled on the issue.