SNIPER TRIAL 911 tape used in sentencing phase

Demonstrating the vileness of the crime is necessary in imposing a death sentence.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) -- Jurors at the trial of teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo heard an emotionally wrenching 911 call today as prosecutors opened their effort to convince the panel that Malvo deserves the death penalty.
In the frantic call, William Franklin sobs to the dispatcher that his wife, FBI analyst Linda Franklin, was shot in the head.
The opening of the sentencing phase of Malvo's trial came the morning after he was convicted of two counts of capital murder in the spree of slayings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area last year.
The tape was excluded during the guilt phase of Malvo's trial, but Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush turned aside defense objections and ruled it was admissible in the sentencing phase.
Prosecutor Ray Morrogh said the tape demonstrates the vileness of the crime, a necessary factor under Virginia law for the jury to impose a death sentence.
Prosecutor Robert F. Horan Jr. said he also will present evidence of an escape attempt Malvo made the day he was arrested in October 2002, to demonstrate that Malvo could pose a future danger.
Defense lawyer Thomas Walsh, who had unsuccessfully mounted an insanity defense in the first phase of the trial, asked the jury in his opening statement today to remember the difficult circumstances of Malvo's childhood and to conclude "that there's value in this man's life."
Testimonies
Malvo, 18, was convicted for the Oct. 14, 2002, killing of Linda Franklin, one of 10 people killed by Malvo and partner John Allen Muhammad during the three-week spree. The jury deliberated for 13 hours over two days before rendering its verdict.
Malvo's lawyers had claimed that Muhammad had brainwashed the teen so thoroughly that he came to believe his father figure was chosen by Allah to begin a new Utopian society in Canada.
Many of the witnesses who testified during the guilt phase of the trial about Malvo's behavior as a child and teenager will also be called to testify during the sentencing phase. It is expected that many will talk about Malvo's difficult upbringing, in which his mother beat him and moved him from home to home, all while he searched for a father figure.
Defense's arguments
Though the insanity defense failed, the jury has already been introduced to many of the arguments the defense will make during sentencing, said Joseph Bowman, a defense attorney who has handled capital cases in Virginia.
"By putting on all this psychiatric testimony during the guilt phase, they were able to slip in a lot of evidence to the jury about Malvo's childhood and how and why he could have done what he did," Bowman said.
Prosecutors complained frequently during the trial that the insanity defense was simply a red herring that allowed the defense to present testimony that would normally not be allowed in the guilt phase of a trial.
Malvo, whose expressions had often been animated throughout the trial, leaned on his elbows at the table with a blank look on his face while the verdict was read.
Family members of the sniper victims patted each other on the shoulders as the verdict was read, while Franklin's daughter, Katrina Hannum, cried.
Bob Meyers, whose brother was gunned down during the attacks, said he was pleased with the verdict. Muhammad, 42, was convicted of identical charges last month for killing Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station. The jury recommended the death penalty.
"We believe that justice has been served," Meyers said outside the court.
after the Malvo verdict was announced.