17 year old sniper suspect John Malvo has a new lawyer, Michael Arif. Mr. Arif Friday stated that Fairfax County police investigators "tried to question Mr. Malvo for seven hours on Thursday night without the presence of any lawyer for him." Obviously, Arif wasn't appointed to represent Malvo until Friday and couldn't have been at the jail Thursday evening to prevent the attempted questioning.

The judge ordered Malvo to be housed in an adult jail pending a decision on whether he will be tried as an adult or a juvenile. This isn't right. You don't throw a juvenile into the adult jail population before he's been ordered transferred to adult court. They should have put Malvo in protective custody for his own safety in the juvenile facility. (Just like they do with cops who get in trouble). Why is Virginia purposefully throwing this teen to the wolves?

The media seems to find something unusual in older suspect John Muhammed's confusion in court Friday about his lawyer or lack thereof. Who wouldn't be confused?

"Mr. Muhammad appeared confused when Judge Herman A. Whisenant Jr. asked whether he wanted the court to appoint counsel."

"I thought I already had counsel," Mr. Muhammad said, referring to a federal public defender in Maryland who had been representing him before Mr. Ashcroft's order that he be transferred to Virginia."

"Judge Whisenant explained that Mr. Muhammad would need a new lawyer to represent him against the charges brought by Virginia."

"I don't know what to say, sir," Mr. Muhammad replied."

Muhammed was sitting in a jail in Maryland, represented by counsel who had told the federal authorities he didn't want to be questioned, as is his right. Without advance notice to Muhammed, the feds abruptly transfer him to Virgina state custody. We strongly suspect his lawyer was not allowed to meet with him before he left and thus could not tell Muhammed the feds had dropped their charges which meant he couldn't continue on as Muhammed's lawyer. It's entirely likely the lawyer wasn't even told of the transfer in custody until after it occurred.

So how is Muhammed supposed to know that by the feds dropping their charges against him, and agreeing to ship him to state custody in Virginia, that he no longer had a lawyer, or that the same lawyer could not represent him in Virginia? Not one of our clients would have known that.

As for him appearing disheveled, we wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get much sleep. Like Malvo, Muhammed was probably subjected to hours of attempted interrogation, without an adequate explanation of what was happening to him. We also wouldn't be surpised if they kept the bright lights on him all night so he couldn't sleep.

"Judge Whisenant said he would appoint a lawyer at a brief hearing next Wednesday." This amazes us. He should have been given a new lawyer immediately. They should have had one waiting to meet him at the Virginia jail when he arrived. The prosecutors knew he was coming. They should have told the judge who should have appointed counsel at that moment. How could they leave a man charged with the most heinous crime of the year in jail for five days without a lawyer?

The cops will be working on Muhammed every day. Even if he says he wants a lawyer, the cops will tell him no, he doesn't get one before Wednesday. They'll leave those lights on him, sleep-deprive him and hope he agrees to talk.

This is not how the American justice system is supposed to work. You don't bring charges based upon which jurisdiction is most likely to kill the offender upon conviction. You don't let suspects sit for days without lawyers. You don't let the Government and state prosecutors leak evidence to the media that should only come out at a trial.

We are not defending the sniper attacks. We find them as abhorrent as everyone else. Whoever committed them needs to be kept away from society. But we need to do it fairly and this isn't the way.