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Sniper suspect held
GREENBELT, Maryland (CNN) -- The prime suspect in a string of sniper killings in the D.C. area and elsewhere across the country will remain behind bars. A federal magistrate Tuesday ordered John Allen Muhammad detained without bail, calling him flight risk and a threat to the community. The judge set Muhammad's preliminary hearing on charges in the case for Friday. Meanwhile, Attorney General John Ashcroft and local government officials have until Thursday to decide which jurisdiction will get the case first. It's an issue that has been hotly debated by Maryland and Virginia prosecutors since the arrest of Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, John Lee Malvo. Twelve people were killed and five were wounded between September 14 -- when the attacks police attributed to the pair began -- and October 24, when police arrested the two. Those include a series of sniper shootings in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia that left 10 people dead and three wounded. Muhammad and Malvo also face charges in the killing of a woman in Louisiana and in the slaying of a woman and the wounding another in Alabama. In Montgomery County, Maryland, police also say the suspects were behind a September 14 shooting in front of a Silver Spring liquor store, in which a man was wounded. Virginia prosecutors say their state is the best place to initiate prosecution, because state law offers more avenues to try Malvo on a death-penalty charge, even if evidence shows he was not the triggerman. Maryland law and federal law forbid the execution of minors such as Malvo, but Virginia statues do not. Louisiana and Alabama also have laws that would also allow the death penalty for Malvo under certain conditions. Maryland prosecutors believe they should have the first chance to try the suspects because most of the shootings took place there. Muhammad and Malvo also are suspects in a killing in Washington state. Police in Prince George's County, Maryland, are investigating if they had a role in two September shootings in Clinton, Maryland, in which two men were wounded. The Justice Department has issued a 20-count criminal complaint against Muhammad, charging him with a number of federal offenses that could end in capital punishment if he is convicted. An indictment on those charges must be returned by Thursday to avoid a preliminary hearing. On Monday, a judge ordered Malvo held in federal custody after a closed hearing in U.S. District Court that afternoon, but court officials made no other information available.
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