Charges Thrown Out in Sniper Case

FAIRFAX, Va. — A judge threw out capital murder charges Friday against sniper John Allen Muhammad in the slaying of an FBI analyst in a Home Depot parking lot, saying prosecutors waited too long to bring Muhammad to trial.

Muhammad is already under a death sentence in another of the 10 slayings that terrorized the nation’s capital in October 2002. That death sentence is unaffected by Friday’s decision.

But the ruling was a defeat for Virginia prosecutors who had hoped to secure a second conviction. Other jurisdictions can still bring Muhammad to trial, including Maryland, where six of the slayings took place.

The charges in the death of Linda Franklin were dropped as a result of a Virginia law that requires a trial within five months of a person’s arrest unless the defendant waives the right.

In Muhammad’s case, prosecutors and defense attorneys disagreed over what the arrest date actually was.

Muhammad, 43, was convicted and sentenced to death last year for the Oct. 9, 2002, murder of Dean Harold Meyers in neighboring Prince William County.

Muhammad’s accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was convicted last year in the Franklin killing and sentenced to life in prison.