HANOVER, Va. (AP) — Snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo will not be tried for the wounding of a man outside a steak house in Hanover County, prosecutor Kirby Porter said Friday.

Jeffrey Hopper was one of three people wounded during a three-week shooting spree that left 10 dead in the Washington, D.C., region in October 2002. After five surgeries and weeks in intensive care, Hopper returned to his home in Melbourne, Fla.

Pending murder cases in other jurisdictions, recent high-court decisions and a conversation with Hopper figured into his decision, Porter said.

"I did contact our victim, who has remained a very private individual. His desire was not to go forward with the prosecution in Hanover," Porter said. "He wants to move on with his life."

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Malvo and Muhammad could have been tried in Hanover on charges of attempted capital murder, which carries a possible life sentence. Porter said other jurisdictions with murder charges or with more severe penalties should have the opportunity to try the men first.

"I've always thought our case was more of an insurance policy if there was some problem with the prosecution or the convictions in Virginia," Porter said.

Porter said he became less inclined to try Muhammad in Hanover after the Virginia Supreme Court in April upheld the death penalty imposed on Muhammad for a slaying in Prince William County.

Malvo, convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of FBI analyst Linda Franklin in Fairfax County, was sentenced to life with no possibility of parole. He also is serving two life terms for shootings in Spotsylvania County.

Six of the shooting deaths occurred in Maryland, three in Virginia and one in Washington, D.C. Proseuctors in Alabama and Louisiana also want to try Muhammad and Malvo for slayings that occurred there before the sniper shootings.