DNA on Rifle Is Very Likely From Suspect, Analyst Says

November 6, 2003 NYTimes By JAMES DAO

VIRGINIA BEACH, Nov. 5 - Genetic material found on the Bushmaster rifle the police say was used in the Washington-area sniper shootings last fall almost certainly came from John A. Muhammad, an analyst with the F.B.I. testified in Mr. Muhammad's trial on Wednesday.

The analyst, Brendan Shea, testified that the DNA was found

on a tiny dial used to adjust the rifle's rear sight, which would have been used by a shooter to line up a target. Mr. Shea said the chances the material came from someone other than Mr. Muhammad were less than one in 46 billion.

The testimony was the first evidence clearly linking Mr. Muhammad to the .223-caliber rifle, which was found in his 1990 Chevrolet Caprice when he was arrested on Oct. 24, 2002, along with Lee Malvo, who is accused of being his accomplice.

Investigators say ballistics tests, which have yet to be introduced as evidence in this trial, will show that the Bushmaster was used in at least 12 shootings, 9 of them fatal.

Mr. Shea's testimony came on a day when forensic experts

linked most of the fingerprints and DNA found on objects

seized from the Caprice to Mr. Malvo.

Mr. Muhammad has been charged with capital murder in the killing of Dean H. Meyers last October in Manassas, Va. Mr. Malvo is scheduled to go to trial next week on capital murder charges in the killing of Linda Franklin last October in Falls Church.

Both men have been charged under two Virginia laws that authorize capital punishment, one for multiple murders committed in a three-year period and the other for killing as part of an act of terrorism. Prosecutors assert that Mr. Muhammad, as the mastermind of the killings, wanted to spread fear to extort $10 million from local governments.

On Wednesday, the prosecution introduced evidence intended

to link Mr. Muhammad to the extortion demands.

One piece came from an F.B.I. computer expert who analyzed

a Sony laptop found in the Caprice. On the computer's hard drive, the analyst testified he found a file titled "Allah 8," which included language similar to extortion demands delivered in notes and phone calls to the authorities.

"We are offering you a way out," the file read, the

analyst, John Hair, said.

Other evidence came from an electronic organizer found in

the Caprice that included entries referring to phone calls

to F.B.I. and police hot lines, as well as to CNN and a Catholic priest in which the sniper made demands.

The prosecution also played a digital recording found in

the Caprice in which a man says: "You know our requests.

You know our demands. And you know that it can be done."

A second voice cuts in at the end of the recording, saying, "Until then, just follow the body bags."

Detectives with the Montgomery County and Fairfax County

police departments testified that the first voice belonged

to Mr. Muhammad and the second to Mr. Malvo.

The computer also contained a Microsoft map program that

seemed to have been used to provide directions to the

general vicinities of several shootings. On some of the

maps, which were stored on the hard drive, investigators

found skull and crossbones icons that seemed to mark

killing scenes.

One icon, for instance, was placed near the address of a

Home Depot where Mrs. Franklin was shot in the head. Next

to the icon was a caption that read, "good one."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/national/06SNIP.html?ex=1069243070&ei=1&en=b86f649263c797d4