WASHINGTON — Una James, the mother of Lee Malvo, the 17-year-old charged in the sniper shootings in the Washington area, has been ordered deported to Jamaica by U.S. immigration authorities, officials said on Wednesday.
James is also being sought by Virginia prosecutors and by defense lawyers for her son. Her lawyers say she is living in Washington state, but they have not told the authorities where. It is possible she will be a witness in the sniper cases.
Officials here and in Seattle said that a federal immigration judge in Seattle determined in a closed hearing on Tuesday that James, 38, entered the United States illegally and ordered her returned to her native Jamaica.
Prosecutors in Fairfax County, Va., where Malvo is being prosecuted for the Oct. 14 fatal shooting of an FBI analyst outside a Home Depot in Falls Church, Va., said they were seeking James only to serve her with notice that her son had been charged with a capital offense that could result in a death sentence. Officials for Malvo's defense team say they are seeking her as a possible witness at trial.
A federal official said it was unlikely that James would be deported before prosecutors and defense lawyers had a chance to speak with her.