2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 18, 2003 0 NATION/WORLD jury convicts sniper on all accounts VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - A jury convicted John Allen Muhammad of capital murder yesterday, conclud- ing he used a rifle, a beat-up car and a teenager who idolized him to kill ran- domly and terrorize the Washington area during last year's sniper spree. The jury will now decide whether the Army veteran should be sentenced to death or life in prison. The penalty phase was to begin in the afternoon. Muhammad, 42, stood impassively as the verdict was read, looking for- ward. Two jurors held hands, and two others were crying. The jury deliberated for 6 1/2 hours before convicting Muhammad of two counts of capital murder. One accused him of taking part in multiple murders, the other - the result of a post-Sept. 11 terrorism law - alleged the killings were designed to terrorize the popula- tion. Muhammad is the first person tried under the Virginia law. Muhammad was found guilty of killing Dean Harold Meyers, a Viet- nam veteran who was cut down by a single bullet that hit him in the head on Oct. 9, 2002, as he filled his tank at a Manassas gas station. He was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and use of a firearm in a felony. The victim's brother Robert said he believes Muhammad deserves the death penalty: "I must say that I can't think of too many more heinous crimes than this one." Fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, is on trial separately in nearby Chesa- peake for the killing of Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church. He also could get the death penalty. Malvo's attorneys are pursuing an insanity defense, arguing that the young man had been "indoctrinated" by Muhammad. In all, the two men were accused of shooting 19 people - killing 13 and wounding six - in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., in what prosecutors said was an attempt to extort $10 mil- lion from the government. The verdict came after three weeks of testimony in which a series of vic- tims and other witnesses graphically - and often tearfully - recalled the horror that gripped the Washington area during the sniper attacks. Ten people were killed in the region and three were wounded, many of them shot as they went about their daily tasks: shopping at a crafts store, buying groceries, mowing the lawn, going to school. At the height of the killings, the area was so terrified that sports teams were forced to practice indoors, people kept their heads down as they pumped gas, and teachers drew the blinds on their classroom windows. At one point during the spree, a handwritten letter was found tacked to a tree near the Virginia restaurant where a man was shot, and it included the chilling postscript: "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time." A NEWS IN BRIEF BAG HDAD, Iraq :.. Italian criticizes U.S., quits Iraqi coalition An Italian official in the U.S.-led coalition has resigned, accusing L. Paul Bre- mer's administration of inefficiency and failing to understand Iraq - sharp criti- cisms that raise questions about the authority's ability to carry out the delicate task of transferring power to Iraqis. The allegations by Marco Calamai, a special counselor of the Coalition Provi- sional Authority in the southern province of Dhi Qar, came as Russia and France criticized the U.S. timetable for handing over power to the Iraqis by July 1. Rising casualties added new urgency to the task. Two more American soldiers died yesterday in separate attacks north of Baghdad, one in an ambush on a patrol, the other by a roadside bomb. U.S. forces attacked dozens of suspected guerrilla hideouts before dawn yester- day, killing six alleged insurgents and capturing others, U.S. officials said. For the second time in as many days, American troops fired a satellite-guided missile with a 500-pound warhead, this one at a suspected insurgent sanctuary 10 miles south of Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit. "Clearly, we're sending the message that we do have the ability to run operations across a wide area," said Lt. Col. William MacDonald of the 4th Infantry Division. "We have overwhelming combat power that we will utilize in order to go after groups and individuals who have been conducting anti-coalition activities." WASHINGTON Tax cuts bill meets Democratic opposition Two-thirds of the $23 billion in tax breaks in the Republican-drafted energy bill would go to the oil, gas and coal industries. Democrats slammed the legislation, one describing it as "a hodgepodge of subsidies for the politically well-connected." Congressional estimates released yesterday put the cost of the package, the first overhaul of the nation's energy priorities in a decade, at $32 billion over 10 years, including about $9 billion for nontax-related measures and revenue losses. A House-Senate conference began considering a string of Democratic amend- ments, but few if any were expected to survive. GOP conference leaders said they were determined to complete the legislation so the House could take it up as early as today. "This is a solid agreement," Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) declared as he opened the conference where House and Senate conferees were to cast their final vote on the bill. He said the GOP bill, which includes 1,148 pages, was the prod- uct of delicate compromises between the House and Senate, and changes could jeopardize the package. "I don't think we can take a risk of undoing this," said Domenci. 4 Sniper John Allen Muhammad looks around the Virginia Beach Circuit Court after being found guilty yesterday on four charges of capital murder. tarot card left near a shooting outside a school declared: "Call me God." "Hopefully, the jury's decision will help bring some comfort to the fami- lies whose lives were senselessly taken and those who were injured," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Washington. Prosecutors presented no direct evi- dence that Muhammad fired the .223- caliber Bushmaster rifle used in the killings, but said it didn't matter. They described Muhammad as the "captain of a killing team" and portrayed him as Malvo's father figure, a stern and con- trolling man who trained the teenager to do his bidding. "That is a young man he molded and made an instrument of death and destruction," Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said in closing arguments. Al- Qaida's role in bombings still unclear ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Turkish officials investigated claims that the al-Qaida terrorist net- work was responsible for the truck bombings that 'devastated two Istanbul synagogues and killed 24 people, the prime minister said early yesterday. Picking through the debris at one of the damaged synagogues, searchers yesterday found the remains of an elderly Jewish worshipper, a doctor at the gov- ernment health department said. That raised the total death toll from Saturday's attacks to 24 from 23. An earlier toll of Jews killed stood at six, because the Jewish community had already counted the woman as among the dead. The woman's granddaughter also was killed, her body found the day of the attacks. A Turkish newspaper said the driver of one of the trucks was filmed by the security camera outside the Neve Shalom synagogues. But it quoted police officials as saying the driver's identity was still unclear. Hurriyet said the son of the truck's owner has been missing for two weeks. On Sunday, two Arabic-language newspapers received separate statements claiming Osama bin Laden's group was responsible for the bombings, which Turkish officials said were likely the work of suicide bombers who detonated explosives in pick- up trucks. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turk- ish authorities were investigating the al-Qaida claims, and there was no way to independently con- firm the authenticity of the claims. "Our security teams, our intelligence services have to work to determine the extent of truth of the claims," Erdogan said. Earlier, Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said the attacks were likely carried out by someone with international links, and rejected earlier claims of responsibility by a tiny Turkish Islamic militant group, saying it did not have the capacity to launch the sophisticated attacks. "It is very likely that there is an international connection. We are not ruling out any possibility, including al-Qaida involvement," he said. Aksu told AP the bombings appeared to be suicide attacks. A Turkish intelligence official told The Associat- ed Press that security forces had been expecting a suicide strike but said it was very difficult to pre- vent such an action. The official, speaking on con- dition of anonymity yesterday, said one person was still being questioned in Istanbul over the syna- gogue blasts but that the person didn't appear to have ties with al-Qaida. Turkish newspaper reports yesterday said that "It is very likely that there is an international connection. We are not ruling out any possibility, including al-Qaida involvement." - Abdulkadir Aksu Turkish minister four Turks who were questioned and released on Sunday included some who allegedly provided fake passports to three al-Qaida suspects captured in Turkey last year as they illegally entered from Iran. Istanbul's governor, Muammer Guler, said yester- day that more people had been detained in the attacks, according to private Turk NTV, but did not say when. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades claimed Satur- day's attacks in an e-mail to the London-based paper al-Quds al-Arabi, saying it had learned that Israeli intelligence agents were inside the syna- gogues. It's not clear that the group exists, though it has been linked in the past to al-Qaida. A copy of its statement was obtained by The Associated Press. WASHINGTON AARP factors into Medicare drug bill Republicans consulted the politically potent AARP at key moments in nego- tiations over a Medicare prescription drug bill - and the group responded yesterday with the endorsement the GOP and President Bush wanted to counter Democratic critics. There are 35 million reasons why the AARP is a player in the maneuvering - the number of its members age 50 and above. AARP chief executive William Nov- elli told The Associated Press in an ,interview that his organization would "pull out all the stops" to get the bill passed, including a three-day television campaign timed for the run-up to expected action on the legislation in the House and Senate at the end of the week. The bill is not perfect, he said, "but the country can't afford to wait for perfect." an enemy combatant. In a critical showdown between the government and civil rights lawyers, two members of a three-judge federal panel seemed hesitant to embrace the government's reasoning for why Jose Padilla, 33, should be held indefinitely without access to a lawyer and without being charged. Padilla, a Muslim, is accused of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a "dirty bomb," which uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials. ORLANDO, Fla. Nation's most famous mouse celebrates 75th Mickey Mouse arrived on the world's cultural stage 75 years ago today as a scrawny but buoyant black-and-white product of the Jazz Age. He was a symbol of American pluck in his screen debut, "Steamboat Willie," on Nov. 18, 1928. The film at New York's Colony Theatre showed an irrev- erent rodent who takes Captain Pete's steamboat on a joyride and woos Min- nie Mouse by making music on the bodies of various farm animals. The years have dulled Mickey's per- sonality, a result of him becoming the corporate face of a multibillion-dollar entertainment empire. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. a M"M Schwarzenegger rses udehears treatment SCalif. overs of suspects hesitantly A federal appeals judge said yester- dnx it xnld bh "a ~ rh n" in th I SPRING TERM IN MAINE writing, camping, reading, hiking, music, canoeing, art NE New England Literature Program Earn 8 credits studying New England literature and culture, explore New Hampshire's mountains, and visit the Maine Seacoast. (It's not just for English majors.) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in yesterday as the 38th governor of Cali- fornia, completing a meteoric rise from bodybuilder and action hero to leader of the nation's most populated state in a historic recall election. The 56-year-old Austrian immigrant took the oath of office on the steps of the Capitol before an audience of 7,500 dignitaries and supporters. Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, held the Bible while California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George administered the oath. "I am humbled, I am honored and I am moved beyond words to be your governor," Schwarzenegger said after being sworn in. In a nod to his wife's famous uncle, Schwarzenegger added: "In the words of President Kennedy, 'I am an idealist without illusions."' Although he had no prior experience as an elected official, the Republican Schwarzenegger was swept into office in the Oct. 7 election that ousted Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, reviled by the voters for his handling of the state's ailing economy. The ceremony, while steeped in tra- dition, was void of the pageantry often associated with California inaugura- tions. Bitterness over the divisive recall vote and the state's financial troubles prompted Schwarzenegger to put a damper on livelier festivities. Former Miss America Vanessa Williams, who appeared with Schwarzenegger in the 1996 film "Eraser," sang the national anthem. Nearly 740 journalists were expected to cover the ceremony. Fifteen digni- taries from 13 countries were in atten- dance, including representatives from Canada, Egypt, Austria and Mexico. The new governor was surrounded by his four children, who had remained out of public view during much of the recall campaign. Later in the day, Schwarzenegger was to attend three events: a luncheon inside the Capitol rotunda for state and federal officials, a private family gath- ering across the street and an invita- tion-only reception sponsored by the state Chamber of Commerce. uay it wouia e a sea c ange in t Constitution to allow the Bush adminis- tration to designate a U.S. citizen sus- pected in an alleged dirty bomb plot as WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. Winter term (January through April) is $110, yearlong (September through April) is $190. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. 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