CrimLaw

Sniper: Malvo:

(1) The most interesting development of the day was the kid telling the psychologist that he wasn't the guy who pulled the trigger:

[P]sychologist Dewey Cornell said Malvo told him he was the spotter, and told Muhammad, "SAC one, go" -- "the sign that it was clear to take a shot," Cornell said.
. . .
Cornell said Malvo's confession -- made to Fairfax County police and the FBI -- was "inaccurate," and was an attempt to spare Muhammad a death sentence.

The psychologist testified that Malvo told him "he was the spotter on every [sniper] shooting up until the last one," contradicting the statements he made to police.

"Lee always admitted that he was involved in the shooting with Mr. Muhammad," Cornell said. But the psychologist said he believes Malvo took the blame because he blamed himself "for the failure of the mission" when they were captured. Malvo was supposed to have been on lookout when they were captured, police said.

(2) The psychologist also outlined laid out the treatment Malvo had received from Muhammad:

Cornell recounted the progression of Muhammad's alleged indoctrination of Malvo as the teenager's lawyers continued their push to prove Malvo not guilty by reason of insanity for the October 2002 sniper shootings. One of the legal definitions for insanity includes an inability to determine right from wrong.

Malvo's lawyers contend Muhammad, now 42, brainwashed Malvo, now 18, and trained the teen to shoot the high-powered rifle used in the shootings that left 10 people dead and three wounded from the Washington suburbs to the Richmond area last fall.


Cornell traced the genesis of Muhammad's alleged brainwashing of Malvo, starting with how Muhammad regaled Malvo and other boys on the island of Antigua with tales of war exploits. He bought them ice cream and taught them karate.
. . .
Cornell, who has interviewed Malvo for 54 hours during the past several months, testified that Muhammad filled Malvo with hate and racial prejudice toward white people.

Muhammad allegedly made Malvo listen with headphones to audiotapes of hate-filled speeches as the teen fell asleep. Muhammad selectively culled the speeches from the writings of civil-rights figure Malcolm X, Cornell testified, adding that one such tape began with music by reggae artist Bob Marley but then shifted to hateful speech by someone else.

(3) The psychologist also described Muhammad's teaching to Malvo about right and wrong:

Cornell said Muhammad and Malvo often discussed right and wrong, and Muhammad told him "that right and wrong do not exist."

Muhammad said the two were in a war, and that "the winners in a war determine which killings are right and wrong," Cornell said.

In Malvo's initial interviews with Cornell, he defended Muhammad. After several months, though, Malvo said he realized that Muhammad had manipulated him.

"He realized he was an expendable person" to Muhammad, Cornell said, recalling that Malvo wondered: "If I was doing right, why did God let it stop?"

Malvo also had misgivings about Muhammad's plan for the sniper attacks, but felt compelled to follow Muhammad's orders.

"Mr. Muhammad gave him pep talks that black people were killed every day and that in times of war, innocent people would die," said Cornell, who interviewed Malvo more than 20 times after his arrest.

(4) And there was reinforcement whenever Muhammad saw Malvo wavering:

Cornell said that Malvo told him he was in "turmoil" over Muhammad's decision to begin a series of shootings. "He felt an obligation to follow his father, but he started to have some misgivings, which, to him, was stressful. He thought the only way out of this was to kill himself."

Cornell said Malvo told him that when Muhammad sensed he was losing his resolve to follow his orders, Muhammad would tell the teenager: "Soldier, you are not getting afraid. Soldier call yourself to attention."

(5) Malvo believed that he would be killed if he deviated from the "mission":

Muhammad often told Malvo that Malvo should shoot and kill Muhammad if he ever strayed from the mission, Cornell said. Malvo assumed the same would happen to him if he deviated, according to the witness.

(6) Some of the psychologist's presentation was not allowed by the judge:

The judge in the trial of sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo banned an audiovisual presentation by a defense psychologist Monday after prosecutors complained it was full of inadmissible evidence including Malvo's baby pictures.
. . .
Prosecutor Robert F. Horan Jr., who was given an advance copy of Cornell's presentation, said it included, among other things, baby pictures intended to soften up the jury.

``I've never heard of a psychologist who bases his opinion on what a baby picture looks like,'' said Horan, who likened the presentation to the type of brainwashing the defense claims was imposed on Malvo by sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad.

Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush agreed with Horan that Cornell's presentation was ``replete with inadmissible evidence'' and barred the defense from displaying it.

(7) Nevertheless some video came in over the prosecution's objection:

Cornell also said Malvo attested to being a fan of "The Matrix," a movie that depicts humans being under the control of an evil computer-run government. Cornell said Malvo had watched the movie more than 100 times and that the teen identified with the hero of the movie, who is to free humans who are so oppressed they don't know they are being dominated. Cornell said Malvo believed blacks were in a similar position.

The defense played a violent segment from the movie showing protagonists gunning down police and others, as well as clips from sniper video games, including "Halo," "Covert Ops" and "Ghost Recon."

One of the games includes "God Mode," in which the player is immune to an enemy's bullets. Malvo and Muhammad used the phrase "Call me God" in notes they left for police at shooting scenes and in phone calls to investigators. "Another kill," one of the games recites after each fatal shot.

"I'm not saying it controlled his actions," Cornell testified of "The Matrix." But he said the movie might have desensitized Malvo to violence and also spurred aggression.

(8) And then there was some rather strange evidence about Malvo hating cats as a child:

As a child, sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo hunted and killed cats with a slingshot, one of the first signs of emotional problems in an otherwise "strikingly obedient child," a psychologist testified Monday.

Malvo once had a pet cat but grew to hate cats, said psychologist Dewey Cornell, who has interviewed Malvo 21 times since February. Cornell said Malvo's mother, Una James, would beat the boy because the pet cat would sleep in Malvo's bed and soil the sheets.

"If he saw a stray cat he would become angry and shoot the stray cat. He hit some of the cats, and probably killed some of the cats," Cornell testified at Malvo's trial. "This was probably the most serious problem in his childhood.

(9) This article talks about how extremely bright Malvo was and how good he was in school - before Muhammad got complete control over him.

(10) A discussion over whether it would be tactically correct to put Malvo on the stand.