Community | November 10, 2009 | 35 comments

DC sniper John Allen Muhammad to be executed tonight

source: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/10/dc-sniper-john-allen-muhammad-to-be-executed-tonight/

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afitzgerald
Unless Virginia Governor Tim Kaine steps in, the state will execute John Allen Muhammad the "Beltway sniper" tonight at 9pm. Yesterday the Supreme Court declined to hear Muhammad's appeal (clipped by LadybugLady).

Muhammad, along with his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, was responsible for a 2002 killing spree in the DC area that left 10 people dead. The shootings targeted everyday people in everyday locations like gas stations. They were all the more frightening because they were unpredictable and without motive. It had just been a year since the September 11th attacks and for the period while the shootings were taking place, it was a a new wave of terror for Washington-area residents.

Muhammad has maintained his innocence. His accomplice, Malvo, is serving life in prison without parole. (Ironically, a case that the Supreme Court did hear yesterday was on whether life without parole was cruel and unusual punishment for teenagers.)

We've been looking at the death penalty a lot in the last few weeks, mostly because of the case of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas - where the state may have executed an innocent man. With a case like that, opposition to the death penalty seems practical: let's prevent mistakes from occurring. The Muhammad case is a bit different. It falls along the line of retribution - why Obama says he's supports the death penalty, despite doubts about its efficacy: "the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage."

What do you think? Is the community justified in this instance? In any instance?

From the News Blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/10/dc-sniper-john-allen-muhammad-to-be-exe...

LadybugLady's post: http://current.com/items/91414934_us-sniper-execution-appeal-denied.htm
  1. groups:
    Community,   News_Featured,   Death Penalty
  2. tags:
    Obama,  Texas,  Supreme Court,  Virginia,  9 more
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35 comments // DC sniper John Allen Muhammad to be executed tonight

  • shanklinmike
  • simall08
    • 0
      simall08  

    • why should a sinner kill a so-called murder?...cheribum and the avenging angels take people out daily...so how is this justified?...no man has the final say on anything dealing with the children of God, this may spark something divine and let chaos loose on the world...you have people in positions of power who sin daily and curse and blaspheme the name of the Holy One...the common sense you think you have is a taught thing from man...1LOVE...

    • 2 years ago
  • antoine_99
    • 0
      antoine_99  

    • The death penalty is an awfully barbaric, medieval behavior for the most powerful country in the 21st century to engage. Also, pretty stupid and pointless. My apologies to all the neo-cons and outright rednecks that seem to have taken over this site lately.

      Also, does anyone else think that this guy looks like Denzel Washington in "American Gangster" or is that subliminal racism rising to the surface again?

    • 2 years ago
  • JulianCommongold
    • 0
      JulianCommongold  
    • antoine_99:

      Sage wisdom from a person with the picture of an anarchist as an icon.

      nice

      And u r the only one who thinks he looks like Denzel.
      What was that you said about subliminal racism?
      Are you rally making this guy a martyr?

    • 2 years ago
  • antoine_99
    • 0
      antoine_99  
    • antoine_99:

      A sadly delusional madman, maybe, but certainly not a martyr. For what cause? Islam? I don't buy that. Unfortunately, many violent, black, inner-city youth of Muhammed's generation migrated toward Islam the same way the violent, white, inner-city youth of the 70's and 80's migrated toward punk-rock. I don't think he's a Muslim. He's a perversion of an idea about Islam. Of course, I'm not a Muslim either. So, what do I know?

    • 2 years ago
  • antoine_99
  • controlusplease
    • 0
      controlusplease  
    • antoine_99:

      Taking a human life is the worst thing another human can ever do. This guy deserved to die, and in my own opinion, rotting away in prison is no way to spend the rest of your life. Why should the government throw this guy into one of our already overcrowded prisons, put him in a multimillion dollar maximum security cell, and waste tens of thousands of tax dollars on him for the rest of his life feeding him, providing health care, and clothing him? You pay taxes right antoine? Do you really want your hard earned money going toward maintaining a person who caused the destruction of 10 lives?

      Good point, Ive also noticed alot of conservatives here on current, no idea why their here and not Fox News Website.....but there you go. Why they would even consider joining something they should hate...I wonder.

    • 2 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • antoine_99
    • 0
      antoine_99  
    • antoine_99:

      Controlusplease.... I've read that it is actually more expensive to put someone to death, because of appeals, etc., than it is to keep them in prison for life.

      But, even if it was cheaper, that doesn't make it right.

      Also, you began your comment by saying:

      "Taking a human life is the worst thing another human can ever do. This guy deserved to die."

      My head almost exploded.

    • 2 years ago
  • antoine_99
  • mrEddie
  • mrEddie
    • 0
      mrEddie [removed]  
    • Image

    • The bleeding hearts on here make me vomit with their soft brained bullshit.

      Meanwhile, this sub-human follower of the mass murdering rapist and pedophile Mohammed, was quite the artist.

    • 2 years ago
  • Karolein
    • 0
      Karolein  

    • In addition to the shooting victims, this man has three children in high school and college who I am sure suffer greatly for his crimes. No matter what he has done, he is still their father and they will have to live with this the rest of their lives, as well. I am against the death penalty for a number of reasons, one being that as humans we are fallible and inconsistent in its application. If an executioner applies the death penalty on our behalf, then we, whether we support the death penalty or not, have participated in that killing. I would rather be responsible for someone spending their life behind bars, then for their death.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ares
    • 0
      Ares  
    • Karolein:

      "I would rather be responsible for someone spending their life behind bars, then for their death."

      You can pay for it, then. My conscious is still perfectly clear with this scumbag lying six feet under.

    • 2 years ago
  • JulianCommongold
  • samthesixth
  • MNNASH
  • Karolein
  • mrEddie
  • Ares
    • 0
      Ares  
    • MNNASH:

      Who said anything about teaching them that killing innocent people is wrong? If you need to be taught that, you've got a load of different problems on your hands. This man is being executed for sheer retribution for his heinous crimes. Ever heard of kids asking their parents for cigarettes, and the parents giving them one to show them how bad they are? Common sense, R.I.P.

    • 2 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • Ares
    • 0
      Ares  
    • MNNASH:

      "So in other words, revenge?"

      You got it, partner. That nonsensical "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" ideology overlooks one very significant factor: not everyone is committing violent or property crimes. There's nothing wrong with an eye for an eye if you aren't a criminal.

    • 2 years ago
  • Nephwrack
  • MNNASH
    • 0
      MNNASH  
    • MNNASH:

      No I have never heard about parents who give their children cigarettes just to prove to them that they're bad. If you want to use such an analogy, if your 5 year old hits another child do you hit them to show them what they did was wrong? Returning violence for violence doesn't teach anyone anything

    • 2 years ago
  • OneTwoRendezvous
    • 0
      OneTwoRendezvous  

    • It's hard to be sympathetic to an obvious murderer like John Allen Muhammed, but ultimately the death penalty needs to be abolished. I live in Tx, which leads the nation in exonerations (and also executions if I remember correctly) The fact that so many innocent people are behind bars should be a wake upcall. I'd rather we keep 1000 criminals in a penitentiary for life than kill 1 innocent person. There's an illusion of the death penalty as a punishment for the worst crimes, but the reality is that its for poor individuals (often minorities) who cannot afford a good lawyer.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ares
  • carmalite
  • RepressThis
  • Broey88
    • 0
      Broey88  

    • The community is definitely justified. We should execute those that are undoubtedly guilty of heinous crimes and thoroughly improve the prison system to help prevent instances like Willingham.

    • 2 years ago
  • mrEddie
  • LadybugLady
  • samthesixth
  • mrEddie
  • CarolineS
    • 0
      CarolineS  
    • mrEddie:

      Thats one of the funniest posters i've seen in a long long time!
      No wonder they do these type of things, when they've got them sex bombs waiting for them in heaven.

    • 2 years ago
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