VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (AP) — The DNA of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad was conclusively linked to a rifle sight found in the car believed to have been used in last year’s sniper attacks in the Washington, D C area, an FBI expert testified yesterday.

The sight was detached from the rifle when it was found, the expert, Brendan Shea, said during Muhammad’s capital murder trial. He would not say with certainty that DNA collected from the rifle itself was Muhammad’s but testified there was a “high likelihood” that it was.

The DNA of Muhammad’s co-defendant, Lee Boyd Malvo, was found on the rifle in several locations to the exclusion of anyone else, Shea testified.

Muhammad and Malvo are suspected of carrying out a three-week shooting spree which left 10 people dead and terrorised the Washington, D C area in October 2002.

Malvo’s fingerprints also were found on the rifle, but the prints were not in a position consistent with someone firing the weapon, a fingerprint expert testified earlier yesterday.

Charles Colman of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms said he found prints from Malvo’s left ring finger and palm on the rifle, but found none of Muhammad’s prints. Malvo’s prints were on the weapon in such a manner that he would have been holding it upside down at the time, Colman said.

“It wasn’t any type of firing position,” he said.

It has long been known that only Malvo’s prints were found on the weapon, but there had been no previous public discussion about the position of the prints.

Prosecutors have argued it is irrelevant who actually fired the weapon, portraying Muhammad as the “instigator and moving spirit” behind the shootings centred in the Washington, D C, area.

Defence lawyers have argued that identifying the triggerman is crucial in determining whether Muhammad is eligible for the death penalty.

The jury also heard testimony yesterday about the contents of a laptop computer found in Muhammad’s car when he was arrested.

Maps of six shooting scenes were marked with skull-and-crossbones icons, said FBI computer expert, John Hair. A caption next to the symbol marking the slaying of FBI analyst, Linda Franklin, included the words “Good one”.

Malvo has admitted firing the shots in many of the 16 attacks, but Malvo’s lawyers say their client gave a false confession to protect Muhammad.

FBI fingerprint expert, Mitchell Hollars, said that he found Malvo’s fingerprints on items left behind at a September 21, 2002, shooting in Montgomery, Alabama, and an October 19 shooting in Ashland. He said he found Muhammad’s fingerprints only on two items that had been in Muhammad’s car. Muhammad’s fingerprints were also found on a map book found at the scene of the October 9 shooting of Dean Harold Meyers near Manassas.

Muhammad is on trial for that shooting.

In other testimony, a third prosecution witness said chemical residue found in the trunk of Muhammad’s car suggests the gunman fired from inside the compartment.

Edward Bender, a forensic chemist for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said nitroglycerine and other chemical residues were “consistent with a firearm being fired inside the trunk”.

Prosecutors began the forensic part of their case against Muhammad yesterday after 2 1/2 weeks of presenting evidence of the shootings and detailing the arrests of Muhammad and Malvo on October 24, 2002, at a rest stop in Maryland.

They introduced evidence in shootings in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana and Washington in an effort to show that Muhammad had a role in multiple slayings and terrorised the public — necessary conditions for the two death penalty charges against him in Virginia.

Another file on the laptop contained text that was apparently designed to be telephone dialogue with the police. It included the code words “Call Me God” and the following instructions: “We are offering you a way out. These are our terms. You will prepare five million dollars and place it in this account …”

Previous testimony has indicated that the snipers sought a $10-million payment in exchange for an end to the shooting spree. There is no evidence that the text found in the computer was ever uttered to police.

The file was created eight days before a note demanding $10 million was left at the scene of a shooting in Ashland, Virginia.