Snipers Mom To Be Deported

[dnice35]

SEATTLE — The mother of a teenager accused of helping carry out a deadly string of sniper attacks has been ordered deported to Jamaica, according to a published report Wednesday.

Citing unnamed sources, The Seattle Times reported that a judge from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, part of the Justice Department, issued the order Tuesday in a closed hearing for Una James, 38, mother of John Lee Malvo.

She will remain in the United States pending a possible appeal, sources told The Times.

Malvo, 17, and John Allen Muhammad, 41, are suspected in the shootings of 18 people in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. Their arrest at a rest stop in Maryland last month ended a three-week shooting spree in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 people dead and three others seriously wounded. Both are charged with capital murder.

James is considered a likely material witness in the trials of both men.

She and Malvo moved from Jamaica to Antigua in 1998. Investigators believe it was there that Malvo met Muhammad, who had taken three of his children to live with him on Antigua after losing a custody battle with his second wife in Tacoma.

James initially told Border Patrol and immigration agents she and Malvo were smuggled into the United States aboard a cargo ship.

Reports following the arrest of Malvo and Muhammad, however, indicate she bought false identification papers from Muhammad and entered the country in late 2000 while her son remained in Antigua with Muhammad.

Malvo came to the United States two months later, bearing a passport that identified him as Muhammad's son, according to Antiguan officials.

He joined his mother in Fort Myers, Fla., but ran away in October 2001 to join Muhammad in Bellingham, Wash., where they lived at a homeless shelter as father and son.

In December, James asked Bellingham police to help her get her son back. During the investigation, however, police said Malvo's comments indicated he and his mother were in the country illegally and officers summoned the Border Patrol, which arrested the mother and son and then released them on $1,500 bail.

Investigators believe that Malvo almost immediately rejoined Muhammad and that the killing spree began soon afterward.

In Richmond, Va., on Wednesday, a Florida man who was wounded by the serial sniper last month in Ashland, Va., was discharged from the hospital.

Pam Lepley, spokeswoman for Virginia Commonwealth University-Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, said the man had been undergoing treatment at the hospital since he was wounded Oct. 19. Lepley declined to say when he was released. His condition was "stable and improving," she said.

Thomas D. Waldron, an attorney, who represents the victim's family, declined comment.

The 37-year-old man was shot once in the abdomen as he and his wife left a Ponderosa restaurant.

In Fairfax, Va., where Malvo is charged with capital murder in the Oct. 14 shooting of FBI analyst Linda Franklin outside a Home Depot store, a judge on Tuesday rejected a request from the defense lawyers to hire a psychiatrist to determine whether the teenager should seek an insanity defense.

Malvo's lawyer, Michael Arif, said he needs a psychiatrist to evaluate Malvo because "we're not certain what makes Mr. Malvo tick."

The judge said the request was premature and Malvo likely would be entitled to such experts when the case moves to trial, she said.

Malvo's preliminary hearing, to determine whether probable cause exists to proceed to an indictment and trial, was pushed back to Jan. 14 to give attorneys more time to prepare.

Also Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Connecticut issued passport fraud charges against a Jamaican man who authorities believe showed Muhammad how to illegally obtain passports. Federal authorities did not release details of allegations against Norman Miggil Manroe. He was arrested last week

Good rittens, Personally I am anxiously awaiting to see both of the snipers fry. I hope they air it on pay-per view.