8A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2006
NATION
Jury selection of trial continues for third day
Chris Gardner/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stand-by attorneys for convicted snipier John Allen Muhammad, Russell Neverdon Sr., left, and J. Wyndal Gordon right, walk away from a media briefing Wednesday in Rockville, Md. Jury selection for the murder trial continued for a third day. Muhammad is on trial for six murders carried out in Maryland during October 2002.
BY STEPHEN MANNING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROCKVILLE, Md. — A prosecutor displayed graphic photos of blood-splattered scenes showing where six people in the Washington area were gunned down as convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad began his second murder trial Thursday.
"They lined up innocent victims in their crosshairs and fired, destroying lives," prosecutor Katherine Winfree said during opening statements in a Montgomery County courthouse.
Muhammad and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were linked to 10 slayings and three woundings in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. They also were tied to shootings in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington.
Muhammad, 45, has been sentenced to death for a Virginia sniper killing and Malvo, 21, faces life in prison. In the Maryland trial, Muhammad is charged with shooting six people in Montgomery County, the mostly affluent county in the Washington suburbs where the three-week sniper spree in October 2002 began and ended.
Malvo also faces trial for the same six murders, but it is likely he will plead guilty and testify against Muhammad. Neither faces the death penalty in Maryland.
Winfree described in detail each of the six shootings and showed grisly photos of each crime scene and victim.
She held up the Bushmaster rifle used in the crimes and showed photos demonstrating how the car driven by the two was modified to serve as a firing platform.
Muhammad, who is serving as his own attorney, sat at the defense table and stared at the prosecutor or looked at the photos of his victims on courtroom monitors. Occasionally, he whispered to one of the court-appointed standby attorneys sitting beside him.
A jury of seven women and five men was picked earlier
Thursday from a pool of about 300. Most in the initial pool said they already believed Muhammad was guilty or played a part in the killings.
in the kitchens. Many cited the pervasive fear that enveloped the Washington area as people were shot at random at gas stations, parking lots and even a school.
People recalled keeping their children inside, putting off filling their gas tanks and avoiding public places. They said it would be difficult to ignore those feelings and judge Muhammad impartially.
Muhammad objected to most prospective jurors, saying he didn't think they could be fair. His attorneys said the entire pool should be discarded because they already had opinions about Muhammad's guilt.
Some of the 12 people and four alternates chosen for the jury lived in the county at the time of the shootings. But they said they would be able to put aside their feelings about the case and judge the evidence impartially.
NATION
Veto threatens provisions to war and hurricane aid bill
BY ANDREW TAYLOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a $109 billion bill Thursday to pay for the war in Iraq and hurricane aid for the Gulf Coast, but a veto threat imperils many provisions added by lawmakers.
The bill has grown to about $14 billion more than President Bush said he was willing to accept, and difficult House-Senate talks loom over how to cut it back to his request.
The White House made clear within minutes of the vote that Bush has not backing down.
"He calls on Congress to
fund our troops and fund the rebuilding efforts along the Gulf Coast, and then hold the line on spending elsewhere. That means don't put unnecessary spending into this emergency legislation," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. "The president has made it very clear. He would veto legislation that goes above and beyond what he called for."
The measure passed with a 78-20 vote. It contains $65.7 billion for war operations and $28.8 billion for hurricane relief, including grants to states to build and repair housing and $3.9 billion for levees and flood control projects in Louisiana.
Bush's veto threat puts at risk items not requested by the president, such as $4 billion in farm disaster aid, $1 billion in state grants and $1.1 billion in aid to the Gulf Coast seafood industry.
House leaders promise to take a hard line in upcoming talks with the Senate.
"Unfortunately, there are some here in Washington trying to load that bill up with unnecessary spending," Bush said Wednesday. "This bill is for emergency spending, and it should be limited to emergency measures."
"The House will not take up an emergency supplemental
spending bill for Katrina and the war in Iraq that spends one dollar more than what the president asks for. Period," said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
David Vitter, R-La., obtained another $200 million in New Orleans-area flood control projects Thursday, bringing the total for such efforts to $3.9 billion. The addition was financed by cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster fund.
Such vows imperil numerous Senate add-ons, including $648 million for port security, $1.9 billion to secure U.S. borders and waters and efforts to boost the budget for New Orleans flood control projects.
The White House will try to fight off possible attempts by lawmakers to cut further into a $67.6 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in their search for money
The upcoming House-Senate negotiations will test the determination and political strength of Gulf Coast Republicans, including the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi. They will fight for home-state projects and priorities despite opposition from House and Senate GOP leaders and the White House.
ior hurricane relief and border protection.
During almost two weeks before the full Senate, the bill grew by more than $2 billion despite a toughly worded veto threat made on the first day of debate. Bush said he would veto any bill exceeding his $92.2 billion request for the war and hurricane relief plus an additional $2.3 billion to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic.
Bush's veto threat emboldened conservatives such as Sens, John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla. They undertook battles against homestate projects inserted by senior senators such as Cochran and Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
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