Witnesses In Sniper Trial Wary

Defense Attorney Says Subpoenas Ignored

Call it the uncooperative witness defense.

Sniper John Allen Muhammad, who submitted a list of nearly 180 potential witnesses and has closely guarded his defense strategy at his trial in Montgomery County, intends to call no witnesses after today.

"The difficulty we're having is witnesses don't want to be a part of Mr. Muhammad's defense," J. Wyndal Gordon, one of Muhammad's standby attorneys, told the judge. "I've actually been told: 'I don't care what you do. If the judge wants to send the sheriff after me, so be it. I'm not coming.' "

Closing arguments could come as soon as Tuesday, and a verdict on six first-degree murder charges in the October 2002 shootings is likely before the end of next week.

Muhammad questioned three witnesses Wednesday and five yesterday. Most had been near one of the sniper shootings and gave police statements that didn't incriminate Muhammad. None offered an account that contradicted the case prosecutors have laid out in recent weeks. But getting those witnesses to show up was a struggle.

"I've actually been threatened. I've been chased off people's property. I've had subpoenas balled up and thrown on the ground right in front of me," said Gordon, who with two other lawyers volunteered to represent Muhammad after he fired his public defenders and asked to represent himself. "It's been a very abusive situation. . . . I didn't realize how dangerous serving subpoenas could be."

Other defense witnesses included a Prince William County police officer who described a small clerical error that delayed obtaining a mouth swab to get a sample of Muhammad's DNA. Another was a U.S. Secret Service forensic document examiner who was not allowed to answer questions about documents he reviewed in connection with the case because he was not testifying as an expert witness.

While cross-examining Maria Jimenez, who heard a blast near one of the shootings, Muhammad appeared to grow irritated by her answers and called her "hostile."

At one point, for no apparent reason, he demanded to know: "Are you a citizen of the United States?"

A startled Jimenez did not have to answer after Circuit Court Judge James L. Ryan sustained the prosecutors' objection to the question.

Another witness, Robert Metzger, testified yesterday that he had a bizarre encounter with two men outside a Bowie school three days before Iran Brown, a 13-year-old student at the school, was shot.

Muhammad was apparently trying to prove that two suspicious people who did not meet the description of him or accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were near the shooting scene.

"There were actually two guys back there, and one of them was kind of like chanting, and I didn't really go too close to them to ask them what he was doing. He said he was praying for the grounds," Metzger testified. "The guy was whacked out. You could kind of tell he was messed up. What this has to do with this, I don't know."

Metzger said later that he disregarded a defense subpoena that asked him to show up Wednesday. Gordon stopped by his home yesterday morning and drove him to court.

"They were trying to get me to help that dude," Metzger said after he finished testifying. Later he said, "I don't even want to be here."

The defense expects to call three witnesses today. Muhammad, 45, could also choose to testify. Malvo, 21, agreed to plead guilty to the killings and testified against his former mentor this week.

Because he is representing himself, Muhammad would have to testify in narrative form, an unusual format during which defendants speak freely. Muhammad declined to tell Ryan whether he will testify.

"I'm reserving the right to answer that right now," Muhammad said.