The murder case of Washington sniper suspect John Muhammad was with the jury after a month-long trial, with a verdict possible by the end of Friday's half-day session.
If jurors find Muhammad guilty of capital murder in one of 10 fatal sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington area last year, they must then decide whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.
Muhammad, a 42-year-old Gulf War veteran, is charged with two capital murder counts, one conspiracy count and a firearms charge in the death of Dean Meyers, who was gunned down at a gas station outside Manassas, Virginia, on October 9th, 2002.
Prosecutors have portrayed Muhammad as a controlling, cold-blooded killer who molded his teen-age traveling companion, Lee Malvo, into an expert sniper and then worked with Malvo to create a climate of fear that stretched along the US eastern seaboard.
Muhammad's lawyers sought to cast doubt on prosecution evidence and witnesses, discounting the testimony of an expert on sniper technique and questioning the absolute certainty of ballistic evidence linking Muhammad to the murder weapon, a .223 Bushmaster rifle.
Virginia law allows conviction on two murder counts in a single death. In Muhammad's case, one capital murder charge involves the killing of Meyers within three years of killing another person.
The other capital murder charge invokes Virginia's new anti-terrorism law, enacted after the September 11th attacks.