In Letter to Teen Girl, Malvo Wrote He Was ‘Walking Time Bomb’

In a letter jurors will not get to read, a despondent and apparently confused Lee Boyd Malvo referred to himself as a “walking time bomb waiting to explode” a few months before the sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area in October 2002.

“Was my purpose here on the God forsaken planet to be banned, shamed and disapproved, why am I hear ... “ Malvo, then 17, wrote a teenage girl he had befriended. “I tried to be a friend, a brother, a lover, a man, and yet I’ve always failed.”

The letter was to be an important piece of evidence in Malvo’s defense that he is not guilty of the sniper attacks by reason of temporary insanity. His court-appointed attorneys contend the letter reflected his troubled state of mind in the months proceeding the attacks, in which 10 people were killed at random over a three-week period. The letter was written to LaToria Williams, alleged co-conspirator John Allen Muhammad’s niece.

On Wednesday, the 14th day of his trial that could result in a death sentence, Fairfax County Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush agreed with the prosecution that the letter was hearsay and could not be presented to jurors.

The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the letter, quoted the Jamaican-born Malvo as writing: “I only met one person who understand and appreciated me. I ask for only a small spot of appreciation of one’s heart, a piece to share with mine ...

“I’ve had a hard life believe it or not, no father and a mother who hate [me], no that’s understatement, she has disbarred me from her ... As I have a father who I know is going to have to kill me for a righteous society to prevail.”

Malvo often referred to Muhammad -- who was found guilty of capital murder in a separate trial last month -- as his father. His attorneys argue that Muhammad brainwashed Malvo into committing the sniper attacks; they believe Malvo’s comment about being killed himself indicates Muhammad intended to shoot his surrogate son at the end of the sniper spree.

Although a motive for the attacks was not established in Muhammad’s trial -- nor has one been established thus far in Malvo’s -- defense lawyers have suggested Muhammad intended to murder his ex-wife, Mildred, disguising her death as the work of snipers.

Most of the murders occurred not far from her Maryland home, and Muhammad had declared her “my enemy” after she took custody of their three children in a court battle.

Malvo wrote the letter to Muhammad’s niece when he and Muhammad were in Baton Rouge, La., visiting her family in the summer of 2002. He ended the letter with, “Please don’t show this to your parents.”

The niece testified Wednesday, with the jury absent, that she was “scared” after reading the letter and gave it to family members to read. A cousin of hers, Shelia Tezano, testified that when Malvo left Baton Rouge “he was crying out for help.”

A friend of Muhammad’s, Earl Dancy, also testified, saying Malvo “didn’t like white people,” and often belligerently debated race issues with him. His wife, Maria, a Latina, said Malvo accused her of “picking on blacks” when she asked him to do chores like taking out the garbage while Malvo and Muhammad were the Dancys’ house guests in Tacoma, Wash., last year.