Virginia prosecutors argued last night that teenage sniper suspect John Lee Malvo should be tried as an adult and face the death penalty for his role in an October shooting spree that paralyzed the US capital.
Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Mr Robert Horan linked Malvo (17) to four of the Washington area sniper shootings that killed 10 people and wounded three - apparently random targets who were killed while buying petrol or unloading shopping.
"There are a number of common denominators connecting these shootings," Mr Horan said during a hearing in Fairfax County Juvenile Court. All the victims were shot in ambush by the same Bushmaster rifle and Malvo's fingerprints were on the weapon, he added.
Malvo and his traveling companion, John Allen Muhammad (42) were arrested on October 24th at a highway rest stop in Maryland nearly a month into the shootings. Ballistics tests connected a rifle found in their car to the sniper killings.
Muhammad, a Gulf War veteran, goes on trial first. He is being prosecuted in Prince William County, Virginia, for the October 9th killing of Dean Harold Meyers at a gasoline station. His trial is set for October.
Malvo faces capital murder charges in the October 14th, 2002, death of Linda Franklin, an FBI analyst gunned down outside a Home Depot home improvement store.