Muhammad denies role in shootings Sniper suspect decides to act as own lawyer By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad won the right to serve as his own lawyer Monday in a surprise, last-minute request at his murder trial. He broke a year of stony silence by proclaiming his innocence in a rambling opening statement about truth. It was not clear why Muhammad decided to fire his lawyers, who will serve as standby counsel in the first trial to come out of last year's sniper spree. Just last week, Muhammad told the judge that he was satisfied with his attorneys. Muhammad's decision to represent himself in the death penalty case means he could end up cross-examining his accusers, perhaps survivors of the shootings. <b>In his 20-minute opening statement, Muhammad said nothing about the shootings except to deny involvement. "I know what happened. I know what didn't happen. They're basing what they said about me on a theory. If we monitor (the evidence) step by step, it will all show I had nothing to do with these crimes," he told the jury. </b> Muhammad, 42, is charged in the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, a 53-year-old Vietnam veteran who was gunned down outside a northern Virginia gas station last October. He was the seventh victim in a three-week shooting spree that left 10 people dead in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, were arrested last Oct. 24 at a highway rest stop in Maryland. Prosecutors have said the shootings were part of a plot to extort $10 million from the government. Malvo was in the courtroom for about two minutes Monday to allow a prosecution witness to identify him. Malvo goes on trial separately next month in another killing. Prosecutors say Malvo has made several statements to police and jail guards in which he confessed involvement in many of the attacks. But Muhammad barely spoke to investigators, and offered only one-word answers in many pretrial hearings. Muhammad spoke at length during his opening statement about the nature of truth, saying at one point, "Jesus said, `Ye shall know the truth.' " He also said he hopes to be found innocent "by the grace of Allah." "There's three truths. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I always thought there was just one truth," he said. "The facts should help us identify what's a lie, what's not a lie." Muhammad asked the jury to pay close attention to the facts because "my life and my son's life is on the line," apparently a reference to Malvo. Muhammad and Malvo, 18, are not related, but have referred to each other as father and son. Later, a Manassas bank employee, Linda Thompson, testified she saw Muhammad and Malvo outside her bank, near the shooting scene, shortly before Meyers was killed. Prosecutors brought in Malvo, in an orange jumpsuit, for the woman to identify. Muhammad asked the woman why she thought the two were suspicious. "Was it because we was black that you remember us?" he asked. She denied that race was an issue. It was the second time Malvo and Muhammad had been in court together this month. At an Oct. 1 pretrial hearing for Muhammad, Malvo invoked his constitutional protection against self-incrimination when asked if he knew the fellow suspect. On Monday, Muhammad declined to cross-examine the victim's brother, Larry Meyers, who testified about Dean Meyers' life. END NEWS STORY I love the way he semi-implicates himself in the bold-faced section.
