Fairfax, Va. ? Prosecutors looking to bring a death penalty case against 17-year-old sniper suspect John Lee Malvo said Tuesday that fingerprints on the murder weapon and other evidence linked him to three slayings and a fourth attack that left a man critically wounded.

Prosecutor Robert F. Horan Jr. also said Malvo tried to extort more than $10 million from authorities in exchange for stopping last fall’s attacks, making his demands through a pair of notes and two phone calls.

“All of this was an attempt to intimidate the government to pay in excess of $10 million for these defendants and this defendant in particular to stop the shooting,” Horan said at a juvenile court hearing to determine whether Malvo should be tried as an adult and possibly face the death penalty.

The extortion allegation is a key element of a new Virginia anti-terrorism law that allows the death penalty for killers convicted of trying to intimidate the public or coerce government policy. Malvo is also charged under a law that allows the death penalty for a suspect who commits multiple murders.

The hearing will continue today. Even if the judge decides against Horan, the prosecutor has the option of obtaining a direct indictment from a grand jury.

Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, 42, are accused of killing 13 people and wounding five more in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., last year. They are being tried first in Virginia, Malvo in Fairfax County and Muhammad in nearby Prince William County.

Authorities have previously said Malvo’s prints were found on the Bushmaster rifle used in the killings.

Defense attorneys did not make an opening statement during the hearing, which included tearful testimony from a man who recalled the splatter of blood against his cheek as his wife, FBI analyst Linda Franklin, was gunned down Oct. 14.

Malvo, who at times rested his head on the desk where he sat with his counsel, faces two counts of capital murder in that slaying.

Horan said prosecutors would use fingerprints found on the rifle to link Malvo to four shootings: Franklin, the Oct. 9 slaying of Dean Meyers in Prince William County, the Oct. 22 slaying of Montgomery County, Md., bus driver Conrad Johnson and the Oct. 19 shooting of a man near an Ashland restaurant.

Horan said Malvo’s fingerprints were on a package of raisins found at the scene of the Ashland shooting, not far from where police recovered a note from the snipers that warned: “Your children are not safe anywhere at any time.”

Sniper shooting suspect John Lee Malvo is escorted from court after his preliminary hearing in Fairfax, Va. Prosecutors hoping to bring a death-penalty case against the 17-year-old said Tuesday that fingerprints on the murder weapon linked him to three fatal attacks and a fourth that left a man critically wounded. Malvo and John Allen Muhammad have been accused of shooting 18 people, killing 13.

A second note, found near the scene of the bus driver’s slaying, reportedly demanded $10 million, as did the note found in Ashland. As for the phone calls, Horan said they were made to authorities after the Franklin slaying and the Ashland attack.

William Franklin fought back tears as he recounted his wife’s death in the parking lot of a Home Depot store. The two had been putting packages into their car when Linda Franklin was shot.

“I heard a noise and felt something hit me on the side of my face,” her husband testified. Though he did not know it at the time, he said, “it was her blood.”

“I went to her side to see if there was anything I could do, and there wasn’t,” Franklin said.

Franklin said he did not see a blue Chevrolet Caprice, the type of car Malvo and Muhammad were arrested in 10 days later at a Maryland rest stop.

Malvo allegedly confessed to investigators in November. But Horan said nothing about it and defense lawyers have indicated they will seek to suppress any incriminating statements Malvo may have made because he did not have a lawyer with him at the time.

Muhammad is scheduled to go on trial in October in Prince William County for the slaying of Meyers, 53, at a gas station in Manassas. He could also face the death penalty if convicted.