Sniper Suspect Confessed, Papers Indicate

Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo willingly confessed to some of the shootings during a police interview last fall, laughing as he recalled shooting an FBI analyst in the head, prosecutors said in legal briefs made public Monday.

Malvo’s lawyers assert that police manipulated a confession about his role in the spate of shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area. He and fellow suspect John Allen Muhammad, 42, have been linked to 20 shootings, including 13 deaths, in Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington, D.C.

Malvo’s casual demeanor during the six-hour interview in November proves he was not intimidated by police into a confession, Fairfax County Deputy Commonwealth’s Atty. Raymond F. Morrogh wrote.

Malvo’s lawyers want the confession tossed out. They argue that Malvo’s lawyers were not present and that Malvo made it clear to police that he did not want to talk about the shootings. A hearing on the confession is scheduled for next Monday.

In a 40-page brief filed this month, defense lawyers argue that authorities undertook “covert and intentionally deceptive actions” to transfer Malvo to Virginia without the knowledge of his court-appointed lawyers at that time. They also say that Malvo asked for his lawyers at the very beginning of the interview, but that his request was essentially ignored.

Prosecutors do not dispute that Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the Nov. 7 interrogation, asked police, “Do I get to see my attorneys?” and later said, “My attorneys told me not to say anything to the cops until they got there,” before confessing. But Morrogh argued that those statements fall well short of the clear demand for a lawyer needed to stop the questioning.

“At best it was an expression of some reservation in Malvo’s mind that he elected to reject by waiving his rights,” Morrogh wrote.

“At times during the interview, Malvo laughed or smiled,” Morrogh wrote. “For example, he laughed as he described shooting [FBI analyst Linda Franklin] at Home Depot in the head.”

Both suspects face the death penalty. Prosecutors have said the shootings that occurred during a three-week spree in October were part of a scheme to extort $10 million from the government.