Sniper jury hears of 'brainwashed' boy

By KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY

Teenage sniper suspect Lee Malvo killed cats as a child, threatened suicide if his mother left him and was looking for a father figure when John Muhammad, now a convicted murderer, entered his life, a psychologist testified yesterday.

Malvo, 18, is on trial in Virginia for one of 10 sniper-style shooting deaths that terrorised the Washington, DC, area in October last year.

Muhammad, his alleged accomplice, was convicted of murder in a separate killing last month and jurors recommended the death penalty.

Malvo's lawyers say he is innocent by reason of insanity because Muhammad, 42, brainwashed him at the time the killings were committed. If convicted, Malvo could face a death sentence or life in prison without parole for the murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin.

Dewey Cornell, a University of Virginia psychologist who interviewed Malvo for 54 hours over several months, testified that Muhammad filled Malvo with hate and racial prejudice toward white people.

Cornell said Muhammad made Malvo fall asleep to the sound of hate-filled speeches, including material from civil-rights figure Malcolm X.

In 2000 Malvo, then about 15, was seeking a father figure when he met Muhammad in Antigua, Cornell said. Malvo had developed a "lifelong longing" for a father figure after his abusive mother uprooted him from his home in Jamaica and left his father.

"His mother not only believed in spankings, she believed in beatings," Cornell testified.

Malvo pelted cats with marbles when he was a boy, the psychologist said. "He told me he probably killed some of the cats."

Malvo was also bullied by classmates and threatened suicide, Cornell said.

At age 12, Malvo tied one end of a bedsheet around his neck and the other to a tree, and threatened to jump if his mother, Una James, left him, Cornell told jurors.

Cornell said Malvo was a fan of The Matrix, a movie that depicts humans being under the control of an evil computer-run government. Malvo watched the movie more than 100 times and identified with the film's hero, whose mission is to free humans who are so oppressed they are unaware they are being dominated. Cornell said Malvo believed blacks were in a similar position.

"I'm not saying it controlled his actions," Cornell testified. But he said the movie might have desensitised Malvo to violence and spurred aggression.

- REUTERS