Judge denies motion by defense lawyers for sniper suspect for gag order on local police, FBI

<br>FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) _ A judge on Friday denied a motion by lawyers for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad to impose a gag order on local police and the FBI. <br><br>Fairfax County Circuit Judge M. Langhorne

Friday, November 15th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) _ A judge on Friday denied a motion by lawyers for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad to impose a gag order on local police and the FBI.

Fairfax County Circuit Judge M. Langhorne Keith said he had no authority to issue an order affecting the FBI. He said he needed more evidence that Fairfax County police were responsible for leaking information to The Washington Post before imposing a prior restraint on them.

Muhammad's defense team made the motion in response to a Post story that cited unidentified sources as saying that 17-year-old John Lee Malvo had confessed to some of the sniper attacks in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., last month.

Muhammad, 41, and Malvo are charged with capital murder and other counts in the string of shootings that killed 10 people and wounded three. They also are charged with shootings in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia and suspected in a shooting in Washington state. They are being prosecuted first in Virginia.

Malvo is being held in the Fairfax County jail awaiting trial for the Oct. 14 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a home improvement store in Falls Church.

Muhammad, being held in neighboring Prince William County, is charged there with killing Dean Harold Meyers, 53, at a gas station in Manassas.

Earlier Friday, Keith refused a defense request to move Malvo from the adult jail in Fairfax to a juvenile detention center.

On Thursday, the two were indicted in a killing in Louisiana and formally charged with first-degree murder in the only killing linked to them in Washington, D.C.

A grand jury in Baton Rouge, La., indicted them in the killing of Hong Im Ballenger, 45, who was shot Sept. 23 during a robbery at the beauty products shop she managed. They had already been charged in that case.

Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty for both suspects. John Sinquefield, assistant district attorney, said he was unsure when they would stand trial in Baton Rouge.

In Washington, prosecutors charged the pair with first-degree murder while armed in the Oct. 3 shooting of Pascal Charlot, 72. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. That killing came on the second day of the Washington-area spree, the same day four people were killed in nearby Montgomery County, Md.