By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 27, 2006
Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was interviewed yesterday by two Arizona homicide detectives investigating the March 2002 slaying of a 60-year-old man who was shot while playing golf, Malvo's attorneys said.
For years, Tucson police have considered Malvo a suspect in the killing of Jerry R. Taylor. But the detectives' interest in questioning him intensified after The Washington Post reported in June that Malvo had recently told authorities in Montgomery County that he and John Allen Muhammad were responsible for numerous shootings -- including Taylor's -- outside the Washington area.
Malvo's attorneys and one of the Tucson investigators declined to describe the substance of the jailhouse interview, but the defense attorneys have described the young sniper as repentant and eager to make amends with relatives of sniper victims.
"What was said is part of an ongoing criminal investigation, and the information will be coming from authorities in Tucson," said William C. Brennan, one of Malvo's attorneys.
Brennan and Timothy J. Sullivan, Malvo's other attorney, said the interview at the Montgomery County jail was part of a broad effort to resolve Malvo's legal problems in jurisdictions outside the Washington area. The effort ostensibly involves having Malvo cooperate with authorities investigating suspected sniper shootings that remain unsolved.
The potential benefit for Malvo -- who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release in Virginia -- would be to work out a deal that would allow him to serve time in a federal prison rather than a maximum security penitentiary in Virginia. Officials in Virginia, which has primary custody, are firmly opposed to that possibility.
Malvo was brought to Montgomery County last year because he is charged with six counts of first-degree murder there; he has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Taylor's daughter, Cheryll Witz, sent Malvo a letter this year asking him to confess to her father's killing. She has said she doesn't want Malvo prosecuted for the crime but has vigorously sought a confession.
"I just want closure," she said. "I don't want to fight anymore."
Malvo and Muhammad have long been suspected in Taylor's killing because, as with the Washington area shootings, it involved a shot from a high-powered rifle from afar. Investigators established that the snipers passed through Arizona in spring 2002 on their way east from the West Coast, and Malvo told a corrections officer in Maryland that he shot a man on a golf course.
One of the investigators assigned to the case flew to Washington on Wednesday with Capt. Bill Richards, who oversees the department's violent crimes division. Richards, reached on his cellphone yesterday afternoon, confirmed that he was in the Washington area "conducting an ongoing investigation." He declined to provide details.
Richards said he expects to present the information to prosecutors in Pima County, which includes Tucson.
"We still anticipate the distinct possibility of prosecution," Richards said.
To prosecute the snipers -- Malvo has described Muhammad as the mastermind of the shooting spree -- in Arizona, that state's governor would have to make a request to her counterpart in Virginia. Some, including Witz, reject the prospect of new trials for Muhammad -- who has been convicted in Maryland and Virginia -- because they fear it would delay his execution.
A spokesman for Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said his office has received no such request from a state other than Maryland, where six of the 10 Washington area slayings occurred.
An alternative resolution, endorsed by Montgomery County prosecutors, calls for Malvo to plead guilty to all the cases during a hearing that could be attended by relatives of all the victims. Virginia prosecutors have opposed that idea because they feel it would be wrong to offer concessions to Malvo.
Malvo is expected to return to southwestern Virginia's Red Onion State Prison next month after his sentencing hearing in Montgomery. The maximum security facility has been criticized by human rights organizations for what they describe as severe conditions.
It is unclear whether similar meetings with law enforcement officials from jurisdictions elsewhere in the country will be arranged before Malvo's sentencing in Maryland, scheduled for Nov. 9.
Malvo's attorneys declined to describe the ground rules for yesterday's interview, but it is not uncommon for authorities to offer immunity to a suspect they want to interrogate to build a case against a co-defendant.
Malvo pleaded guilty this month to six counts of first-degree murder in the Montgomery slayings. In May he took the stand during Muhammad's trial, providing the first public insider's account of their relationship and the months-long onslaught the pair carried out.
Muhammad, who defended himself at trial, said he was the target of a sweeping law enforcement conspiracy .
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