Washington sniper urges stay of execution

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Lawyers for the sniper whose deadly 2002 shooting spree terrorized the US capital region urged the Supreme Court Wednesday to suspend his execution next week, arguing he had been badly represented.

Attorneys for convicted murderer John Allen Muhammad asked the nation's highest legal body to halt his November 10 execution to give the court more time to examine an appeal against his sentence.

They argued that he had not been properly legally represented during his trial in March 2004, when his legal team did not contest a request by Muhammad to defend himself even though he was clearly suffering from mental problems.

"Trial counsel knew that Muhammad had been diagnosed with severe mental illness, and personally observed Muhammad's struggle with severe symptoms of psychiatric disorders prior to the start of the trial," said one of two documents presented to the court.

"These paranoid and delusional beliefs were clearly evident in and had devastating effect on, Muhammad's behavior in this case," the lawyers' petition read.

Muhammad had "refused to cooperate with the state's mental health expert," the document said, adding "he fired his trial attorney for two days during the trial."

Then during his self-defense "he gave an illogical and rambling opening statement."

The defense team has asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether the 2004 sentence was consitutional, a process which could take several weeks yet.

During the 2002 shooting spree which killed 10 people and left the Washington region paralyzed with fear, Muhammad, a skilled marksman, picked off victims at random with the aid of a high-power sniper rifle and scope.

During the three-week shooting spree in shopping malls, outside schools and at gas stations, Muhammad killed each of his victims with a single bullet fired from a distance.

He was apprehended after an exhaustive manhunt by federal and local police.

He was sentenced to death in 2004 following his trial for one of the fatal shootings, that of Dean Meyers, who was killed while filling his car at a suburban Virginia filling station.

Muhammad faces execution on Tuesday unless the US high court or the governor of Virginia intervenes.

His teenaged accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, is serving a sentence of life in prison.

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