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CHESAPEAKE, Va. - The jury in the murder trial of Lee Boyd Malvo got the case Tuesday after his lawyer argued the teenager fell under the spell of John Allen Muhammad when he took part in the Washington sniper shootings.
Defense lawyer Michael Arif said Malvo, desperate for a father figure, found the wrong man to emulate in Muhammad and eventually became "a cult of one" with Muhammad as his leader.
"Lee could no more separate himself from John Muhammad than you could separate from your shadow on a sunny day," Arif told the jury.
But prosecutor Robert Horan Jr. said Malvo was as responsible as Muhammad, calling the pair "peas in a pod."
"Their belief, as wild and vicious as it was, was that if they killed enough people, the government would come around" and meet their demand for $10-million, Horan said.
Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush sent the case to the jury just after 4 p.m. Tuesday. Deliberations begin today.
Malvo is charged with the Oct. 14, 2002, slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin.
The jury must decide Malvo was the triggerman in Franklin's death for him to be eligible for the death penalty on one of two capital murder counts. The second capital murder count, which alleges Franklin's death was an act of terrorism, does not require that Malvo be the triggerman.
The judge ruled Tuesday the jury won't be permitted to consider whether Malvo was acting under an "irresistible impulse."
Roush said Malvo could go forward with his insanity defense, but denied his lawyers' request to give the jury instructions on how an irresistible impulse relates to insanity.
The law states that if a criminal cannot control an irresistible impulse, he could be considered legally insane.
Muhammad, 42, was convicted of capital murder last month in nearby Virginia Beach. The jury recommended he be put to death for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a northern Virginia gas station.