Two court veterans to represent Muhammad
Circuit Court Judge LeRoy Millette Jr. officially appointed Peter Greenspun and Jonathan Shapiro to Muhammad's defense team. Greenspun was asked to represent Muhammad last week and stood with his client at the defense table yesterday.
Also yesterday, Prince William County officials gathered DNA samples from Muhammad for comparison with evidence found at several shooting sites.
Shapiro, an Alexandria, Va., lawyer who has a distinguished record in federal and local courts, first learned yesterday that he would represent Muhammad and said he had not met his client. Shapiro has defended capital cases in Prince William, the jurisdiction that has handed down the most death sentences in Virginia.
"I'm very opposed to the death penalty, and that accounts for my interest in the case," Shapiro said. "The stakes are high here for everyone, and everyone wants to make sure that Mr. Muhammad gets a fair trial."
Muhammad, 41, is charged with capital murder in Prince William in the shooting of Dean Harold Meyers, who was killed Oct. 9 as he pumped gas at a Sunoco station north of Manassas. Meyers was one of possibly 15 shooting deaths authorities linked to Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, 17.
In all, the pair are suspects in 22 shootings in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona and Washington state.
Sources have said that during interrogations last week, Malvo claimed he pulled the trigger in several shootings, including the Oct. 14 slaying of Linda Franklin, 47, who was shot outside a Home Depot in Fairfax County. Malvo faces capital-murder charges in that case.
Greenspun expressed "outrage" over information about the questioning that has appeared in The Washington Post attributed to anonymous sources. Greenspun called law-enforcement sources "cowardly" for releasing details of Malvo's interviews and for detailing evidence.
Meanwhile, a man wanted for questioning in the case was being held in a New York jail on passport fraud charges.
Peter Gianquinto Jr., a 53-year-old felon, was arrested Nov. 4 as he left his doctor's office. He appeared in federal court the next day on charges he submitted a bogus Rutgers University ID card to obtain a passport.
Authorities in the Caribbean island of Antigua have linked Gianquinto to Muhammad, according to The Washington Post.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.