Appeals court orders Va. to file revised brief in Beltway sniper’s appeal

A federal appeals court has ordered the Virginia attorney general's office to file a replacement brief, with "proper citations," defending the death sentence of John Allen Muhammad, one of the Beltway snipers.

Muhammad was sentenced to death in 2004 for the Oct. 9, 2002, capital murder of Dean Meyers in Prince William County, part of a rampage he masterminded that left 10 dead and a half-dozen wounded in four states and the District of Columbia.

The case -- Muhammad's trial was one of the highest-profile in state history -- is to be argued before a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 12.

The unusual order directs the attorney general to file the amended brief after Muhammad's lawyers complained the state's initial one failed to cite sources of facts -- in their statement of facts -- as required by court rules.

Carl W. Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said: "You could say it's a technical violation of the rule." But, he said, he believes a lack of proper citations in the state's brief could hinder Muhammad's efforts to pursue his appeal.

David E. Clementson, spokesman for the attorney general's office said: "We will, of course, comply with the [court's] order. We take the court's rules very seriously."

"Our brief, submitted in good faith, referenced the statement of facts prepared by the Virginia Supreme Court, rather than the [trial] transcript for several reasons," he said. Among them is that the 4th Circuit regularly does so in its opinions," Clementson said.

Also, he said, Muhammad does not contest the evidence presented to prove the crimes, summarized in the Virginia Supreme Court's opinion and contained in the brief.

Jonathan Sheldon, one of Muhammad's lawyers, said: "I am shocked that it happened in this case. I expect more care and professionalism by the attorney general in any death-penalty case, let alone one of this magnitude."

In court papers, Muhammad's lawyers argued that at one point the state brief asserted that "law enforcement authorities collected a mountain of evidence inescapably linking each of these crimes to each other and to Muhammad."

"Because there is no citation to the record at all in the statement of facts, Muhammad cannot determine whether this statement is from a witness, the finding of a lower court or argument," his lawyers wrote.

The court granted Muhammad's motion to strike the brief and gave the state seven days to file an amended version with proper citations.

Muhammad's accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was sentenced to life in prison.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .