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By Associated PressExperts predict an unruly courtroom but an almost certain conviction with John Allen Muhammad acting as his own lawyer.
By choosing to defend himself, Washington sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad has almost guaranteed he will be convicted, legal experts say. But the opportunity to talk with jurors face-to-face may work in his favor if he has to ask later for a merciful sentence.
"If he's at all articulate, he can redeem himself to the jury," said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola University law professor who specializes in criminal procedure. "They can say, "He didn't look all that rotten.' "
Muhammad, 42, on Monday persuaded Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette to allow him to defend himself on capital murder charges in the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, the seventh victim in the three-week shooting rampage that left 10 people dead in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., last October.
Muhammad does not appear to have any legal training. In the Army he was trained as a mechanic, truck driver and as a specialist metal worker. The Persian Gulf veteran also qualified as an expert with the M-16, the Army's standard infantry rifle.
His court-appointed attorneys, Peter Greenspun and Jonathan Shapiro, will remain to assist Muhammad if needed.
"My heart sank. . . . I instantly thought he must be irrational. It must be a death wish on his part," University of Virginia law professor Anne Coughlin said. "The justice system isn't there to help people commit suicide. It's a search for truth."
Legal experts agree that Muhammad now has little chance of an acquittal.
"It seems like people who are inclined to represent themselves seem to be very adamant about some aspect of the case," said Richard Hackerd, a Cleveland lawyer who represented James A. Traficant Jr. after the former congressman failed to acquit himself on federal racketeering charges. "But they don't have the range, the experience and the objectivity to do the litigation part of the case."
By choosing to defend himself, Muhammad may be seeking a different kind of vindication, Coughlin said.
"He doesn't want to be perceived as (a) voiceless and helpless man, the pawn of lawyers," said Coughlin, who has closely followed the sniper case. "Maybe he wants to stand on his own two feet. Maybe he'd rather be presented as ruthless and cold-blooded than insane."
With Muhammad acting his own lawyer, the trial will probably become an unruly affair in which the orderly, judicial courtroom atmosphere is interrupted by awkward motions or speeches from an untrained defendant, said Paul Marcus, a law professor at the College of William & Mary.
"I've never seen anything short of a disaster with someone representing themselves," Marcus said. "The prosecution doesn't like it, because they don't want to be viewed as beating up on a novice. It's also a very serious problem with the judge, should he actively intervene if the person begins using this as a kind of soapbox."
In the Muhammad case, he will be cross-examining his accusers, perhaps survivors of the sniper attacks, and maybe even his alleged accomplice, 18-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo.
Marcus said Muhammad will probably be able to continue defending himself, with his lawyers on standby, as long as the judge considers him mentally competent.
"It's a very low standard, meaning that you understand the proceedings against you, and that you are savvy enough to cooperate," Marcus said.