Document text
--> --> Feds charge Muhammad in sniper case GREENBELT, Md. (AP) - The federal government filed charges today against one of the suspects in the Washington-area sniper case that could make him eligible for the death penalty. The 20-count criminal complaint was filed against John Allen Muhammad, 41, in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. It charges Muhammad with discharging a firearm as part of an extortion scheme in the deaths of seven people in Maryland and the wounding of three others, in Maryland and Virginia. U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said if a firearm is used to carry out violence in an extortion scheme, the crime is punishable by the federal death penalty. The charging complaint did not name the younger suspect, 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, because he is not an adult. A juvenile can be charged with a federal capital offense but cannot be executed. Officials are barred by federal law from discussing any charges against a juvenile. Federal law does not allow the execution of people who are juveniles at the time of the crime. Malvo and Muhammad currently face murder charges in both Virginia and Maryland in the three-week series of attacks that killed 10 people and wounded three. Alabama has charged them in a killing outside a liquor store last month in Montgomery. The question of whether federal indictments will be lodged in the case remains undecided, McNulty said. A complaint, he said, is not the same as an indictment but "just a charging document that has the effect of further holding the defendants." "But that charging document today would lay out some of the grounds for a federal case," McNulty said. It is also unknown whether a federal prosecution would begin before or after state prosecutions. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing