By Eric Lichtblau and Jayson Blair, The New York Times
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft decided today to let state prosecutors in Virginia be the first to prosecute the two sniper suspects, John Muhammad and Lee Malvo, because Justice Department officials believe that offers the best chance of securing the death penalty against the two men. Advertisement
“It is imperative that the ultimate sanction be available for those who have committed these crimes,” Mr. Ashcroft, a strong defender of capital punishment, said in ending two weeks of legal sparring over which federal or state jurisdiction would try the defendants first. The determination, which was in his hands largely because the two were in federal custody, means that they will be tried separately in two Virginia state courts.
The decision was announced as investigators examined what they said might be one of their strongest pieces of evidence: a laptop computer that contains a possible diary of the crimes.
Law enforcement officials said today that the Sony laptop computer, found in the Chevrolet Caprice where Mr. Muhammad and Mr. Malvo were captured on Oct. 24, contains a diary of their travels that appears to put them at the scene of some of the shootings. It may also include coded references to the killings, say officials close to the investigation who asked not to be identified.
Investigators are eager to develop a road map of the two men’s travels because they believe they may have been responsible for other shootings that have not yet been tied to them, officials said.
Today, the two men were linked to one more shooting in Atlanta. Law enforcement officials in Georgia said they had concluded that a .22-caliber handgun used in the fatal shooting of an Ethiopian immigrant on Sept. 21 outside an Atlanta liquor store was the same one that the authorities say Mr. Muhammad and Mr. Malvo used in a shooting later that day in Montgomery, Ala., about 150 miles away.
Investigators have made a “100 percent” identification on the pistol and “have established that Malvo and Muhammad were in Atlanta shortly after midnight on Sept. 21,” said Jack Killorin, an agent in the Atlanta office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The 41-year-old victim in the Atlanta murder, Million Waldemariam, was shot three times after he noticed two people sitting in a car outside the store and “walked outside to see why,” said the Atlanta police chief, Richard Pennington. The victim was visiting the store owner at the time, relatives said.
The Atlanta murder brings to 21 the number of shootings in which the two men have been charged or are suspected. They are suspected of having indulged in a cross-country crime rampage that moved through Washington State, Arizona, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana.
The police are also investigating crimes in Connecticut, Michigan and South Carolina to determine whether the two may have been involved.
Since the apprehension of Mr. Muhammad and Mr. Malvo in their car at a Maryland rest stop, prosecutors in the jurisdictions where the shootings took place have jockeyed for position to try the men first.
Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, have pushed particularly hard for that role, because they say their community, where six sniper murders happened, was traumatized more keenly than any other.
But Mr. Ashcroft’s advisers said his decision about who would try the case first was driven by his desire to see both Mr. Muhammad and Mr. Malvo face the death penalty if convicted.
Because Mr. Malvo is believed to be 17 years old, he would not be subject to the death penalty if he were tried in federal court.
Justice Department officials have hinted for the last two weeks that they did not want Montgomery County to try the case first because Maryland infrequently uses the death penalty.
More than a dozen federal and local law enforcement officials stood behind Mr. Ashcroft as he made his announcement today, but the Montgomery County state’s attorney, Douglas Gansler, was noticeably absent. He has sparred publicly with Mr. Ashcroft over jurisdiction.
Mr. Ashcroft decided to allow two state jurisdictions in Virginia to try the defendants separately. Mr. Muhammad is to be tried for murder in Prince William County, where a 53-year-old man was shot and killed at a gas station on Oct. 9, while Mr. Malvo is to be tried in Fairfax County, where an F.B.I. analyst was killed outside a Home Depot on Oct. 14.