The Associated Press
MANASSAS, Va. (AP) -- Lawyers for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad have issued subpoenas to police and FBI detectives and to four reporters from The Washington Post, seeking to find the source of law-enforcement leaks to the newspaper.
The Post has broken several stories since sniper suspects Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were captured in late October. In November, the paper cited anonymous law-enforcement sources saying that Malvo had confessed to several of the sniper shootings. Months later, that report was confirmed through court documents.
Then, earlier this month, the Post reported numerous details of Malvo’s confession, again citing anonymous sources, in which Malvo allegedly said some victims were shot in the head to increase shock value.
Peter Greenspun, Muhammad’s lawyer, has said the leaks are a deliberate attempt by police to taint the jury pool by giving potential jurors a negative impression of the sniper suspects.
Greenspun sought an injunction to prohibit such leaks early in the case, but the order from a Fairfax County judge applies only to Fairfax police.
Still, Greenspun said in a motion filed last week that orders issued by judges in both Fairfax and Prince William counties make “clear that case-related information should not be leaked ... to the media.”
Two police officers, Fairfax County Homicide Det. June Boyle and FBI Agent Brad Garrett interviewed Malvo when he made his confession. Both were subpoenaed by Greenspun.
In all, nine subpoenas were issued. They have been called to appear at a pretrial hearing Thursday.
A lawyer for The Washington Post, Eric Lieberman, declined to comment Friday on the subpoenas.
Muhammad, 42, and Malvo, 18, have been linked to 20 shootings, including 13 deaths, in Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. Both face the death penalty.
Prosecutors have said that the shootings that occurred during a three-week spree in October were part of a scheme to extort $10 million from the government.