|
Malvo said confession was a lie { December 9 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47175-2003Dec8.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47175-2003Dec8.html
Malvo Said Confession to Police Was a Lie, Psychologist Tells Court
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 9, 2003; Page A01
CHESAPEAKE, Va., Dec. 8 -- Lee Boyd Malvo told a court-appointed psychologist that he did not fire the shot that killed an FBI analyst outside a Home Depot store last year and, in fact, pulled the trigger in only one of the sniper shootings, the psychologist testified Monday.
Malvo also told Dewey G. Cornell that his confession to detectives was a package of lies meant to protect his mentor, John Allen Muhammad. But after seven months in jail, Malvo had a change of heart and told Cornell that he had been manipulated by Muhammad and was willing to testify against the man he had been calling his father, the psychologist said.
Cornell, the keystone of Malvo's insanity defense, said Malvo was suffering from dissociative disorder at the time of last fall's sniper shootings, in which 13 people were shot and 10 people killed in the Washington area. He said that the disorder qualifies as mental disease under Virginia law and that of the hundreds of juvenile offenders he has examined, "I've never testified that one was like this."
Malvo's defense team has presented three mental health experts and has six more waiting to testify. The prosecution has two specialists who have interviewed Malvo in recent weeks and another in the courtroom to help contest Malvo's experts.
Cornell's testimony was wide-ranging and dramatic, in part because he has spent more than 54 hours interviewing Malvo in 21 visits to the Fairfax County jail since February and also interviewed Malvo's parents, friends and acquaintances in Jamaica and Antigua.
That access allowed him to fill in the gaps of Malvo's life story. It also made for compelling testimony about how and why Malvo said the sniper shootings occurred.
Malvo detailed for Cornell how Muhammad trained him for a "secret mission" with political readings, violent video games and actual guns. He also told the University of Virginia psychologist that he had misgivings about the plan but feared for his life, should he fail or back out.
"Mr. Muhammad said, 'If I ever back down, you should shoot me and continue the mission,' " Cornell testified that Malvo told him. "He understood this to mean if he failed, Muhammad would shoot him."
Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. had seen Cornell's written reports and noted during his cross-examination that Malvo had troubles before he ever met Muhammad. He said that Malvo admitted shoplifting comic books and compact discs and implied that Malvo was prone to exaggeration by stating he had a collection of "thousands" of stolen comic books.
Horan observed that Malvo told Cornell he liked to take a slingshot and hunt stray cats during his childhood in Jamaica. Animal cruelty in one's youth can be an indicator of future violent tendencies, Cornell said. The prosecutor also pointed out several times that Cornell was taking Malvo at his word.
The defense is arguing that Malvo, now 18, was so indoctrinated by Muhammad, now 42, that he was temporarily insane. Fairfax prosecutors believe Malvo was perfectly aware of what he was doing when Linda Franklin was shot outside the Seven Corners Home Depot store Oct. 14, 2002, and they are seeking the death penalty. Muhammad has been convicted of a separate sniper shooting, and a jury has sentenced him to death.
Cornell said that when he first met Malvo, the teenager resisted discussing the shootings and instead "basically gave me lectures" about his and Muhammad's political views. He said Malvo later realized that Muhammad had been using him. "Whatever he told me, I spit it out," Cornell quoted Malvo as saying.
Cornell said that as a child, Malvo bounced from home to home and school to school, almost annually. Because he was so eager to please in each new relationship, "it made him much more vulnerable to someone like John Muhammad, who could take advantage of him," Cornell said. Malvo told Cornell that his mother, Una James, beat him regularly with her hands and with sticks and belts. "He spent a fair amount of time hiding from her," Cornell said.
Malvo and James moved from Jamaica to Antigua in 1999, and Cornell said they met Muhammad independently of each other. Malvo met Muhammad in a small electronics store, where he saw Muhammad treating his own son well and was envious. In November 2000, James was introduced to Muhammad as someone who could help smuggle her into the United States, Cornell said. The next month, James moved to Florida, leaving Malvo behind. Malvo, then 15, moved in with Muhammad.
CONTINUED
|
|
