800+ Enter Lottery for Seat at Sniper Suspect's Trial

VIRGINIA BEACH (AP) - More than 800 people have signed up for a lottery to win a seat for a day in the courtroom with sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, whose capital murder trial starts Tuesday in Virginia Beach.

The judge won't allow the Muhammad trial to be broadcast, so the only place for the public to watch the actual proceedings will be in court.

Most of the about 50 seats in the courtroom are reserved for reporters, security, attorneys and relatives of Dean Meyers, who was shot to death a year ago at a Manassas gas station.

Five seats are available to the public. They will be assigned in weekly random drawings, with each winner being allowed in the courtroom for one day. There will be no public seats during jury selection, when most of the seats will be filled by potential jurors.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Paula Miller says that as of this morning, there 854 people had signed up to win a seat. Some people signed up more than once, but she says duplicate entries wll be weeded out.

People may continue to enter the lottery throughout the trial by filling out a form on the city's Web site or by calling the city.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)