Closing Arguments Start in Sniper Trial

Verdict Could Come as Early as Tonight

A marathon closing argument by defendant John Allen Muhammad ended about 6:30 p.m. today as Muhammad, who is facing six murder charges in Montgomery County, proclaimed his innocence in the 2002 sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington area.

After Muhammad concluded his closing argument, the prosecution gave its rebuttal and the jury went home for the long holiday weekend. The panel is scheduled to begin deliberations Tuesday.

Muhammad, who is already sentenced to death in Virginia, accused police and prosecutors of lying and spoke of "negative proof" and "stupid sense," as opposed to common sense during his 3 1/2 -hour closing argument.

"These cases are not even made on stupid sense," said Muhammad, who is acting as his own lawyer. "I call these cases the cow jumping over the moon."

Muhammad, 45, invoked the Bible and used allegory as he argued that he and his younger accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were innocent -- a claim that was particularly unusual because Malvo took the stand on Tuesday as a prosecution witness against his former mentor.

Closing arguments began this afternoon, after the convicted sniper was denied permission to call a witness that he said would have contradicted the state's account of a homicide in Alabama.

Muhammad, wearing a tan suit, sat impassively as Assistant State's Attorney Vivek Chopra offered his closing statement, calling Muhammad a coward who had prowled the county's streets looking for "regular citizens, like you, like me, like anyone in this gallery."

In his closing, Muhammad challenged the jury to consider what a guilty person looks like, reminding them that prosecutors have portrayed him as an unrepentant killer.

"The person who's done nothing wrong should have no remorse," Muhammad said.

He noted that Martin Luther King had been charged with crimes and suggested that he was guilty only of being homeless.

Muhammad, who called only one witness to the stand this morning as he finished his defense, told the judge today that he decided not to testify.

Prosecutors and Muhammad clashed this morning over the admissibility of a last-minute potential witness who Muhammad said would have contradicted the account of a slaying in Alabama that a police officer and Malvo provided to the jury.

The would-be witness, Clyde Wilson, told reporters today that he was at the scene of the shooting during a liquor store hold-up in Montgomery, Ala., and pursued the robber alongside a police officer. He said the robber he chased was not Malvo. Malvo said he was chased by police that night.

"I know this guy Malvo is not the guy we were pursuing," Wilson, 43, said.

A police officer who previously testified for the state identified Malvo as the suspect he chased after a liquor store was robbed and two of its clerks were shot.

Muhammad is charged with six counts of first degree murder. He was convicted in a Virginia sniper slaying in 2003.

Malvo has agreed to plead guilty and told jurors on Monday that Muhammad pulled the trigger in most of the sniper shootings in the Washington area in October 2002.