Defense rests case in sniper trial

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The defense rested its case Thursday in the penalty phase of John Allen Muhammad's trial after trying to show the jury a softer side of the man convicted of murder in the Washington-area sniper spree.

The jury was to hear closing arguments Thursday afternoon and begin deliberating today on whether Muhammad de-serves the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

The same jury on Monday convicted the 42-year-old Army veteran of murder for his role in the sniper spree that left 10 people dead and three wounded last year. Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, is on trial separately in nearby Chesapeake.

Appeared glum

Muhammad's defense showed the jury a video Thursday in which he plays with his young children and encourages them to take their first steps. Muhammad appeared glum as he watched the five-minute tape, alternately wearing a frown and hanging his head.

"You can walk. Now go ahead and walk to daddy," he says as one of his daughters takes her first steps. In another clip, Muhammad says to the girl, "Let me see the teeth" and the girl flashes two baby teeth and a big smile.

Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued against showing the video to the jury, saying it duplicated earlier testimony that Muhammad was a good father.

The tape was played immediately after Muhammad's sister, Aurolyn Williams, described the difficult circumstances of their early childhood.

Their mother died of breast cancer when Muhammad was 3 and was in constant grief because they could not afford pain medication for her.

"She'd lay there and cry and moan. John would sleep in bed with my mom," Williams said. "He loved his mom. That was our backbone. That was all we had. He was like a cat with kittens. If my mom made a step, John moved."

Muhammad's friends described him as a family man who loved his children but changed for the worse when he lost custody of his children to ex-wife Mildred Muhammad.

"Sometimes he seemed like he wasn't all there," said Nathan Perry, of Tacoma, Wash.

In Malvo's trial, 14-year-old Iran Brown testified that he thought he was going to die when he was hit by a bullet as he arrived at Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Md., on Oct. 7, 2002. Brown, who was 13 at the time, was the only child shot during the sniper spree.

"My aunt drove me to school. I got out of the car, and I got shot," Brown said, speaking in an emotionless monotone.

"I heard a big bang and then I fell to the ground. Then I felt a burn," said Brown.

"I thought I was going to die," he added.

Attorneys for Malvo, 18, don't dispute that he took part in the sniper attacks, but they contend he was brainwashed by Muhammad and is innocent by reason of insanity.

Also Thursday, the jury took a field trip to the city jail near the courthouse to look at the 1990 Chevrolet Caprice that Muhammad and Malvo are believed to have been driving during the shootings.

Prosecutors say the car was used as a killing platform, with a back seat that lifted up to allow access to the trunk. The trunk has a large notch cut above the license plate, which prosecutors say was used as a shooting port.

Jurors walked around the car once and then a second time after the car doors were opened, according to a pool reporter who went on the field trip. The jury spent about 25 minutes looking at the car.