Muhammad's Metamorphosis Impresses Some Trial Observers

Lawyers not in the case said Muhammad's apparent defense strategy could unravel if Malvo, who is sentenced to life in Virginia, pleads guilty in Maryland and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors. Malvo, they noted, is the only person in a position to know as much as Muhammad does about the pair's activities during those 22 days in October. If Muhammad questions him carelessly, Malvo could say things that the jury might never otherwise hear. "He's going to be potentially opening some very wide doors," lawyer Robert C. Bonsib said.

Yet Muhammad at times has shown himself to be an able interrogator, at least once confronting a witness with a previous statement and forcing him to admit error. That witness was Steven Bailey, a Prince William County police officer who testified that he had seen Muhammad in his vehicle at the scene of a shooting at a Manassas gas station.

Bailey said he believed the driver of the Caprice was between 40 and 45 years old.

"Forty to 45, is that what you're saying?" Muhammad asked, before presenting Bailey with the report.

"Can you tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury what was the age of the person you said you had saw?"

"Forty-five to 50," Bailey said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't . . . "

"What I wrote down was 45 to 50," Bailey repeated.

"So you didn't write down 40 to 45."

At a trial that has included many reminders of the deadly sniper toll, Muhammad has occasionally used wit -- as many lawyers do -- to drive home a point. One such instance occurred at a hearing in March, when his public defenders argued that he had a "brain dysfunction" and was incompetent to act as his own attorney.

"Your honor, can I sit over there with them?" he blurted out, looking at the prosecution table.

Last week, Muhammad drew scattered laughter while cross-examining a D.C. police officer, Henry Gallagher, who described one of the numerous encounters in which Muhammad is alleged to have barely eluded capture. Gallagher said he pulled Muhammad over on Oct. 3, not far from where Pascal Charlot was shot later that evening, but issued him only a verbal warning for speeding and going through two stop signs.

"Sir, let me ask you something," Muhammad said. "What does it take to get a traffic citation in the nation's capital?"

Staff writer Ernesto Londoño also contributed to this report.