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Judge Tosses Charges Against D.C.-Area Sniper


Queen Prawn

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Story at NBC5.com

 

FAIRFAX, Va. -- He's already on death row for one of the sniper killings -- but now a Fairfax County judge has dismissed charges against convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad in a second capital murder trial related to the shooting spree.

 

In a ruling released today, Judge Langhorne Keith tossed out the charges, saying prosecutors violated Muhammad's right to a speedy trial.

 

Muhammad was charged in the Oct. 14, 2002, killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin in a Falls Church, Va., Home Depot parking lot.

 

Keith said prosecutors waited too long to bring Muhammad to trial.

 

Defense lawyers said Muhammad's trial should have begun months ago under a Virginia law that requires a suspect's trial to begin within five months of arrest, unless the defendant waives that right.

 

But prosecutors and defense attorneys disagree on when Muhammad was technically placed under arrest.

 

One of Muhammad's attorneys said the defense team has been mindful of those affected by the sniper shootings as they pursued "the rule of law" in their appeal.

 

Jonathan Shapiro said, "We well remember the victims in these cases and the families who suffered so greatly."

 

Muhammad was sentenced to death last year for killing Dean Meyers near Manassas, Va. Fairfax during the October 2002 sniper shooting spree. Prosecutors have said they wanted another capital murder conviction in case the first one was overturned.

 

A total of 10 people were killed in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Edited by Queen Prawn
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