May 17, 2006 10:52 am US/Eastern
Police: Malvo Cooperating In Sniper Trial
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) ―
A man who recognized the license plate on the car authorities say convicted Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad was in at a highway rest stop told jurors he had just one thought: "That I needed to call the police."
Whitney Donahue testified Tuesday he had heard the license plate — NDA 21Z — broadcast on the radio and saw it on Oct. 24, 2002, as authorities were trying to find the sniper. Donahue, a refrigerator repairman, said he had just pulled into the rest stop.
After struggling to get reception on his cell phone, Donahue finally reached a police dispatcher, he said, and tactical teams arrested the pair a short time later.
His testimony came as prosecutors began presenting evidence from the 13 sniper shootings in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., during October 2002. Ten people were killed and three wounded during that stretch. Muhammad and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were also linked to sniper shootings in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington state.
Muhammad, 45, was sentenced to death in 2003 for one of the Virginia shootings. Malvo was given a life term for another Virginia sniper killing.
In Maryland, both Malvo and Muhammad are charged with six counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of James Martin, Premkumar Walekar, James "Sonny" Buchanan, Sarah Ramos, Lori Lewis Rivera and Conrad Johnson.
Tuesday, a Montgomery County police officer testified that Malvo has provided information to police implicating John Allen Muhammad in the October 2002 sniper spree.
Police Sgt. Roger Thomson's testimony came only after Muhammad, acting as his own lawyer, opened the door during his cross-examination. Muhammad asked Thomson, as he has most other witnesses, if he had any personal knowledge that Muhammad committed the sniper killings. Thomson later told prosecutor Katherine Winfree that he had spoken to Malvo in the last two months, and that Malvo had implicated Muhammad.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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