WASHINGTON, Nov 17: A jury in the United States on Monday found John Allen Muhammad guilty of murder in the first sniper case to go to trial.

Better known as the DC sniper, John Allen terrorized the Washington DC area last year when a number of people were found dead in a series of mysterious shootings.

The jury concluded John Allen was behind these random shootings and he used a rifle and a beat-up car to carry out the murders. He was helped by a teenager named Lee Boyd Malvo who idolized him.

The shootings occurred in a number of jurisdictions, including Maryland and the federal district of Washington. With Attorney-General John Ashcroft pushing hard for prosecutors to be able to seek the death penalty, the case ended up in Virginia, a state neighbouring Washington. According to Amnesty International, Virginia is known for “the relative speed at which it takes capital defendants from conviction to execution.”

Although the trial featured three weeks of testimony, hundreds of piece of evidence and about 130 witnesses, jurors were quick to make up their minds. After barely six hours of deliberation, they signalled that they had reached a decision.

John Allen was convicted of two counts of capital murder. One accused him of taking part in multiple murders and the other alleged the killings were designed to terrorize the population.