No reprieve for Beltway sniper Muhammad
source: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/11/10/no_reprieve_for_beltway_sniper_muhammad/
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RICHMOND - The Supreme Court refused yesterday to block the execution of Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, who coordinated the 2002 shooting spree that left 10 dead in the Washington region.
Muhammad, 41, is to be executed by lethal injection tonight. As the execution nears, echoes of the three weeks in which millions of people were on edge are reverberating throughout the region.
Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor objected to the speed with which the court acted, saying it “highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded.’’
Stevens said Virginia had short-circuited the process by scheduling Muhammad’s execution for tonight, earlier than the court would normally have taken to review his petition.
Muhammad and his 17-year-old accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were arrested seven years ago in connection with 16 shootings. Muhammad received the death penalty for murdering Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station in Manassas, Va.
After his initial appeals were dismissed by state and federal judges, Muhammad’s lawyers lodged a last set of emergency appeals with the Supreme Court last week.
Their main claim was the case has moved too quickly. They said judges in Virginia cut short the time for filing appeals and refused to hold a hearing after the trial.
Muhammad’s lawyers also have asked Governor Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia to commute his sentence to life in prison, saying Muhammad is mentally ill and should not be executed.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/11/10/no_reprieve_for_beltway_sn...
Muhammad, 41, is to be executed by lethal injection tonight. As the execution nears, echoes of the three weeks in which millions of people were on edge are reverberating throughout the region.
Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor objected to the speed with which the court acted, saying it “highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded.’’
Stevens said Virginia had short-circuited the process by scheduling Muhammad’s execution for tonight, earlier than the court would normally have taken to review his petition.
Muhammad and his 17-year-old accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were arrested seven years ago in connection with 16 shootings. Muhammad received the death penalty for murdering Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station in Manassas, Va.
After his initial appeals were dismissed by state and federal judges, Muhammad’s lawyers lodged a last set of emergency appeals with the Supreme Court last week.
Their main claim was the case has moved too quickly. They said judges in Virginia cut short the time for filing appeals and refused to hold a hearing after the trial.
Muhammad’s lawyers also have asked Governor Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia to commute his sentence to life in prison, saying Muhammad is mentally ill and should not be executed.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/11/10/no_reprieve_for_beltway_sn...
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