Selection of Jurors Begins In Trial of Sniper Suspect
Published: October 15, 2003  On the first day of the first trial
in one of the most highly publicized shooting sprees in history,
John A. Muhammad declared on Tuesday that he did not kill a
53-year-old Maryland man at a gasoline station last fall, one of
10 sniper killings that terrorized Washington and its suburbs.
Mr. Muhammad's lawyers and the prosecution then began the
difficult task of selecting 12 jurors to decide his fate on
death penalty charges in a trial that is expected to last at
least six weeks.  Mr. Muhammad stood before the court in a crisp
white shirt and dark tie, his hands folded before him, as Judge
LeRoy F. Millette Jr. of Prince William County Circuit Court
read the four charges against him. Four times, Mr. Muhammad
replied in a voice that was soft but clear, ''Not guilty.''  Mr.
Muhammad, 42, is accused of murdering Dean H. Meyers, an
engineer from Gaithersburg, Md., who was shot with a high-
powered weapon at a Sunoco station in Man