ROCKVILLE, Maryland (AP):
JAMAICAN-BORN LEE Boyd Malvo testified yesterday that his former partner and father figure, John Allen Muhammad, told him before the 2002 sniper attacks that panicked the region around America's capital for weeks, "We're going to terrorise this nation."
Malvo said Muhammad also outlined a plan for six sniper shootings a day for 30 days, to be followed by a bombing campaign that would target schools, school buses and children's hospitals.
Muhammad planned to follow a terror campaign with the abduction of his three children, whom he had lost in a custody battle, Malvo said. Malvo tried to dissuade Muhammad and suggested they should simply get the children and leave the U.S.
"I said 'Why?' He didn't give me an answer," Malvo said.
Both Muhammad, 45, and Malvo, now 21, already were convicted in Virginia for a sniper murder there.
Muhammad received a death sentence, while Malvo was given a life term.
SEEKING JUSTICE
Prosecutors in Maryland have said they are pursuing a second trial in case the Virginia conviction is overturned on appeal and to provide justice in Mont-gomery County, Maryland, where six of the 10 killings occurred.
Malvo was called as a witness in Muhammad's first trial, but refused to testify, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
On Tuesday, Malvo said he was so distraught after that six-hour conversation in July 2002 that he played Russian roulette, crying in a bathtub. He pulled the trigger several times before realising the next trigger pull would be fatal.
"I just broke down. I couldn't pull the trigger," Malvo said.
