Sniper

ROCKVILLE -- More than three years after a sniper's bullet felled Conrad Johnson as he stood in the doorway of a Montgomery County bus, Sonia Wills had the opportunity yesterday to confront her son's convicted killer. Calling John Allen Muhammad the "devil's advocate," Wills bore into the 45-year-old Gulf War veteran as he looked downward, toward papers at the defense table. "It is a shame you will not look at us to see the lives you have devastated, the lives that you have ruined," Wills told Muhammad.

Trial dates for the two accused Washington-area snipers were set for May and October of next year at a hearing yesterday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. A judge scheduled the trial of John Allen Muhammad for May 1, 2006. Co-defendant Lee Boyd Malvo's trial was set for Oct. 10, 2006. State prosecutors said they will decide by October of this year if they will seek the death penalty against Muhammad. Paul DeWolf, Muhammad's lawyer, said he does not believe that Muhammad is eligible for the death penalty under Maryland law. Muhammad has been sentenced to death in Virginia for his role in a killing in Manassas.

The tall, lean man in shorts and T-shirt who came into the Subway sandwich shop in Baltimore's Remington neighborhood appeared polite and well-spoken. It was late on the evening of Oct. 7, and the stranger said he was hungry and tired. But the store, at 28th and Sisson streets, was closing, and workers Marty Ruby, 25, and Holly Thompson, 21, nicely told him they were no longer serving customers. So the man, who walked with military bearing, nodded respectfully and headed back to his car parked in the lot. Moments later, as the pair were bringing out the day's trash, the stranger came out of his blue Chevrolet Caprice and approached them again.

Now that police have made arrests in the sniper case that terrorized the Washington area, they face a more mundane mystery: How should the $500,000 reward be distributed? Law enforcement officials - who received thousands of tips during the three weeks of shootings - will determine which ones were important enough to merit some of the money, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan said yesterday. He put off more specific answers, pointing out that no money will be distributed until suspects John Allen Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, are indicted.

A Northern Virginia judge Wednesday set Nov. 10 as the execution date for sniper John Allen Muhammad, whose wave of random shootings terrified the Washington region in 2002. Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Mary Grace O'Brien chose the date during a teleconference with lawyers in the case Wednesday morning, said Jon Sheldon, an attorney for Muhammad. He said Muhammad plans to ask Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency and to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal appellate court rejected his latest appeal last month.

ROCKVILLE -- Lee Boyd Malvo, the young Jamaican prosecuted as John Allen Muhammad's accomplice in a deadly sniper rampage in 2002, has provided information to police in recent months, indicating that a deal might be close for Malvo to testify against the man who still calls him "my son." From the witness stand yesterday, Montgomery County Police Sgt. Roger Thomson acknowledged that Malvo, now 21, has been cooperating in the prosecution of Muhammad, whose trial on six murder charges is in its third week.

ROCKVILLE -- Attorneys for Washington-area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, who pleaded guilty yesterday to six murders in Montgomery County, are trying to forge a wide agreement that would have him also admit his role in other 2002 shootings in other states. The deal has the potential to give Malvo what he reportedly wants -- a move from Virginia's Red Onion prison to a federal penitentiary -- if it includes a plea to the fatal shooting in Washington, D.C., to which he and John Allen Muhammad have been linked.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, the reluctant celebrity who led the chase for the serial snipers and calmed a nation of jittery TV viewers, will tell his story in a book to be released in the fall and has agreed to consult for a television movie, his agent announced yesterday. The book is tentatively titled Three Weeks in October: The Manhunt for the D.C. Sniper and will be published by Dutton. Two TV production companies bought the rights to Moose's life story, but there is no guarantee the movie will be made.

Maryland police departments will receive nearly $1 million in federal assistance to offset costs associated with the October sniper shootings, but Anne Arundel and Howard counties - which tallied half a million dollars in overtime as they monitored schools and roads during the crisis - apparently won't get a penny. "I'm disappointed," said Anne Arundel County Police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan. "This wasn't cheap or easy for us to do. We were hoping for some federal help." Five Maryland police departments, 21 in Virginia and one in Washington will divide the $2.5 million Justice Department reimbursement.

After three weeks of standoff, broken only by each new shooting, Washington-area police and the serial sniper they are hunting have abruptly moved into an elaborate, high-stakes negotiation. Montgomery County police Chief Charles A. Moose pleaded with the mysterious shooter last night to contact police directly, promising in a televised address at midnight: "Our word is our bond. "Let's talk directly," Moose said. "We have an answer for you about your option. We're waiting for you to contact us."