CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo's mother approved the designation of John Allen Muhammad as his guardian, the principal of a school that Malvo attended testified Tuesday at his murder trial.

Muhammad once identified himself as Malvo's uncle, Rosalind Aaron testified one day after a jury in a separate trial recommended that Muhammad be executed for the sniper killings.

Aaron, the principal of a Seventh-Day Adventist school on the Caribbean island of Antigua, described Malvo as "intelligent, respectful and jovial."

Malvo is on trial for the Oct. 14, 2002, shooting of Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church. He faces the same two murder counts that Muhammad did: multiple murders within three years and murder as part of a terrorist plot.

Prosecutors said Muhammad and Malvo, now 18, formed a mobile sniper team. In all, they were charged with or linked to the killing of 10 people and the wounding of six in the Washington area in September-October 2002 plus shootings in Washington state, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiania.

Malvo's defense attorneys admit he shot Franklin, but said that Muhammad, 42, molded the teen into a killer. They also argued that his unstable childhood, as well as a Jamaican culture that emphasized discipline and obedience, made Malvo especially susceptible to Muhammad's influence.

On Tuesday, defense attorney Craig Cooley introduced a photo of the school where Aaron taught Malvo in the 11th grade, calling it a stark contrast with the state-of-the art high school where Muhammad enrolled Malvo in Washington state.

Aaron said Malvo left the school roughly two weeks after she took a Quran away from him, then gave it back at the end of the day. She said she didn't want him spreading Muslim ideas in a Christian school.

Another witness, John Benjamin Lawrence, the teen's uncle, recalled driving his nephew to school and answering all manner of questions when Malvo, then 9, lived with him at the request of the boy's mother.

"The thing is this, with Lee around, he loves to ask questions," said Lawrence, who testified that he was like a father to Malvo during the time they lived together.

Lawrence's wife, Marie, called Malvo "very obedient," and testified that only rarely did she have to whip him with a strap. "He tried to obey, because I don't joke," she said.

Before defense attorneys opened their case Monday, Malvo's jurors heard the final segment of a recorded police interview, which included Malvo's predictions that he and Muhammad would both be executed for the shootings.

"I think they're gonna kill me," Malvo said.

The first person to take the stand in Malvo's defense Monday was his father, Leslie Malvo, a mason who lives in Kingston, Jamaica.

Leslie Malvo said he had a "very nice relationship, a loving one" with Lee, whom he described as "handsome, willing, obedient, manageable" as well as "beautiful."

Malvo's relationship with his mother, Una James, was different, said Semone Powell, a second cousin.

She testified that James, beat him even though he was an obedient child. James would get upset if she asked Malvo to bring her a basket and she thought the boy moved too slowly, Powell said.

"She would hit him, hit him randomly all over his body with her hand," Powell said. James also threw shoes at Malvo, pulled his hair and yelled at him, she said.

After jurors in Virginia Beach recommended Monday that Muhammad be sentenced to death, Circuit Judge LeRoy Millette set a Feb. 12 hearing for formal sentencing. Virginia judges rarely overturn jury recommendations for the death penalty.

Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said that Muhammad took pleasure in killing people, and that the jury's sentencing decision was a "victory for society" that will serve as a deterrent to other killers.

Defense attorney Peter Greenspun said there are several possible grounds for an appeal, including Muhammad's conviction on a terrorism charge. The law is untested in the courts -- Muhammad was the first person tried under the statute.

The shootings terrorized the Washington region -- people were afraid to pump gas and to go to public places. Schools were locked down, especially after a note left at a shooting scene warned: "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time."