MIND CONTROL

Washington snipers: Master and servant or partners in crime?

Perhaps the biggest mystery remaining before the trial begins Tuesday for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad is the true nature of his relationship with his teenage companion, fellow suspect Lee Boyd Malvo. The men's relationship has become a key and complex element in each case, with all sides painting different portraits of the dynamic.
Malvo, 18, and Muhammad, 42, are charged with 13 shootings, including 10 deaths, in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They are suspected or charged with shootings in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona and Washington state.
Prosecutors will try to pull off a rare feat in Muhammad's trial: obtaining a death penalty in a shooting death for a defendant who didn't pull the trigger. Defence lawyers argue that Muhammad can only get the death penalty if he was a triggerman in the killings, while prosecutors say recent case law shows they need only prove Muhammad was the "instigator and moving spirit".

[For discussion on inconsistencies regarding the snipers' weapon read this]