10 November 2003

Lee Malvo Sniper Case:

The case begins today. However, Malvo's mother will not be present at the trial.

As we've all known for some time Malvo's attorneys are putting forth an insanity defense - claiming that Muhammad's will overbore Malvo's so that he did not know the difference between right and wrong. It is a defense which seems to be getting a great deal of help from the prosecution of the ongoing Muhammad case. Attorneys who comment on this - including Steven Benjamin and the dreaded Warren Von Schuch - seem to think that this is primarily a tactic meant to keep Malvo from being killed by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Malvo is the beneficiary of an incredibly talented team including Michael Arif (whom I have never seen practice but hear good things about), "the" Craig Cooley (none finer), and Professor Groot's VC3 at W&L (the first place you should call if assigned a capital case in Virginia).

It will be extremely interesting.

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