Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2003, Page 102
Niall Haughey‘s father says, ―I am not worried about him at all.‖ (Sunday Irish Independent,
Internet, 6/29/03)
Malvo/Brainwashing
“Brainwashing” Defense Mounted
Lee Boyd Malvo, whose attorneys mounted an insanity-by-reason-of-brainwashing
defense, has been found guilty of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to life in
prison without parole in connection with the Washington, DC-area sniper attacks in 2002.
The trial lasted 18 days and the jury heard almost 150 witnesses.
The defense argued that the teenager had been indoctrinated while under the tight control
of John Allen Muhammad, recently convicted of another of the sniper murders. Prosecutors
in Allen‘s trial, faced with the fact that most of the evidence pointed to Malvo as the actual
shooter, had argued that Muhammad deserved to be convicted because he controlled Malvo
and molded the younger man into a killer. Police interrogation tapes — which the defense
tried unsuccessfully to keep out of evidence — indicated Malvo was proud of his shooting
skill, and unremorseful.
The law in Virginia, where both were tried, requires the defense to prove the indoctrination
led to a ―mental disease or defect‖ that left the defendant unable to distinguish right from
wrong or control his actions. The prosecution said Malvo‘s evasion of arrest for weeks during
the killing spree, and his conspiring with Muhammad to extort $10 million from the
government while on the run, proved that he knew he was doing wrong. Patty Hearst‘s
similar ―brainwashing‖ defense failed in 1976, and experts say that it hardly ever prevails,
especially in ‗high profile‘ cases.
Malvo’s Background
The defense tried to show that Malvo‘s background predisposed him to be controlled and
manipulated by Muhammad. Relatives from Jamaica, where Malvo grew up, testified his
mother moved frequently, often leaving him with family or friends, and beat him often, once
after he threatened to hang himself if she moved him again. One of Malvo‘s high school
teachers said family instability led Malvo to search constantly for a father figure and he
happened to find one in Muhammad.
The Rev. Albert Archer, who runs a homeless shelter in Bellingham, WA, testified
Muhammad and Malvo had a father-son relationship Muhammad had ‖a very strong
influence‖ over Malvo ―a personality that will draw people to him ...It was a winning way
he had of drawing Lee into his way of thinking.‖
Muhammad met Malvo when the older man — a former U.S. Army regular who served in
Operation Desert Storm but left the service discontented — visited Antigua, where he
allegedly began to indoctrinate Malvo and train him in marksmanship, which continued after
they traveled to Washington state in late 2002. Malvo wrote a letter at that time to a niece
of Muhammad‘s first wife saying: ―Why am I here, there seems for me no purpose?
Everyone who has met me hates my gutsy rambling and considers my gibberish [sic] fake.
My patience is thinning, my conflict unresolved, my psyche and fear strewn ...I should
have been banished and killed ...for I‘m perceived as a walking time bomb waiting to
explode ...All I ask is to be loved.‖ The defense treated the letter as a cry for help, but in
response to a prosecution objection the judge withheld it from the jury.
Psychological Evaluations
In custody, Malvo described to a forensic social worker the new society of ―superpeople‖ he
believed would change the world he and Mohammad intended to create. They would begin
with 70 boys and girls from around the world brought to live in a community somewhere in
Niall Haughey‘s father says, ―I am not worried about him at all.‖ (Sunday Irish Independent,
Internet, 6/29/03)
Malvo/Brainwashing
“Brainwashing” Defense Mounted
Lee Boyd Malvo, whose attorneys mounted an insanity-by-reason-of-brainwashing
defense, has been found guilty of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to life in
prison without parole in connection with the Washington, DC-area sniper attacks in 2002.
The trial lasted 18 days and the jury heard almost 150 witnesses.
The defense argued that the teenager had been indoctrinated while under the tight control
of John Allen Muhammad, recently convicted of another of the sniper murders. Prosecutors
in Allen‘s trial, faced with the fact that most of the evidence pointed to Malvo as the actual
shooter, had argued that Muhammad deserved to be convicted because he controlled Malvo
and molded the younger man into a killer. Police interrogation tapes — which the defense
tried unsuccessfully to keep out of evidence — indicated Malvo was proud of his shooting
skill, and unremorseful.
The law in Virginia, where both were tried, requires the defense to prove the indoctrination
led to a ―mental disease or defect‖ that left the defendant unable to distinguish right from
wrong or control his actions. The prosecution said Malvo‘s evasion of arrest for weeks during
the killing spree, and his conspiring with Muhammad to extort $10 million from the
government while on the run, proved that he knew he was doing wrong. Patty Hearst‘s
similar ―brainwashing‖ defense failed in 1976, and experts say that it hardly ever prevails,
especially in ‗high profile‘ cases.
Malvo’s Background
The defense tried to show that Malvo‘s background predisposed him to be controlled and
manipulated by Muhammad. Relatives from Jamaica, where Malvo grew up, testified his
mother moved frequently, often leaving him with family or friends, and beat him often, once
after he threatened to hang himself if she moved him again. One of Malvo‘s high school
teachers said family instability led Malvo to search constantly for a father figure and he
happened to find one in Muhammad.
The Rev. Albert Archer, who runs a homeless shelter in Bellingham, WA, testified
Muhammad and Malvo had a father-son relationship Muhammad had ‖a very strong
influence‖ over Malvo ―a personality that will draw people to him ...It was a winning way
he had of drawing Lee into his way of thinking.‖
Muhammad met Malvo when the older man — a former U.S. Army regular who served in
Operation Desert Storm but left the service discontented — visited Antigua, where he
allegedly began to indoctrinate Malvo and train him in marksmanship, which continued after
they traveled to Washington state in late 2002. Malvo wrote a letter at that time to a niece
of Muhammad‘s first wife saying: ―Why am I here, there seems for me no purpose?
Everyone who has met me hates my gutsy rambling and considers my gibberish [sic] fake.
My patience is thinning, my conflict unresolved, my psyche and fear strewn ...I should
have been banished and killed ...for I‘m perceived as a walking time bomb waiting to
explode ...All I ask is to be loved.‖ The defense treated the letter as a cry for help, but in
response to a prosecution objection the judge withheld it from the jury.
Psychological Evaluations
In custody, Malvo described to a forensic social worker the new society of ―superpeople‖ he
believed would change the world he and Mohammad intended to create. They would begin
with 70 boys and girls from around the world brought to live in a community somewhere in
