John Allen Muhammad introduced himself to jurors as a distraught father who was only in Maryland in October 2002 to search for the children he lost in a custody dispute _ not to become the Washington-area sniper.

"I woke up this morning knowing that I needed to come into this court room and fight for my life to survive or I will die," Muhammad, acting as his own lawyer, said Thursday in opening statements at his trial for six Maryland killings. "It's that simple, people."

During his 20-minute statement, Muhammad quoted Plato and referred to his military training. He likened his case to the betrayal of Jesus, and asked jurors to judge him wisely. He said he would rely on "quantum physics, immaterial evidence and material evidence" to prove his case.

I'm at a loss for words.. I just got the mental image of this guy sitting in a bare jail cell, thinking about OJ and Michael Jackson, while trying to remember scenes from Oliver Stone's JFK.