tagged w/ John Allen Muhammad
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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). UPDATE: Gov. Kaine has denied Muhammad's clemency appeal.
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?
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http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132013&page=1
Each of the 13 official Sniper attacks were brutal and gruesome. Each of the victims were innocent. They were each minding their own business, pumping gas, going to the store, etc.. However, there was one shooting in particular that evoked especially strong emotional reactions. When a 13 year old boy was shot while being dropped off at school, fear intensified. The inhumanity that would allow someone to shoot a child at random was shockingly horrific. This was a killer with no regard for human life, and complete and utter indifference to the innocence of childhood. Montgomery County's then Chief of Police, Charles Moose was even brought to tears as he addressed the media following the shooting of the teenager. The young man's name is Iran Brown, and the linked article provides an in-depth account of his remarkable survival story.http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132013&page=1
Each of the 13 official... more
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John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday night for the sniper attacks in 2002 that left 10 dead and spread such fear people were afraid to go shopping, cut grass or pump gas.
The three-week killing spree in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., was carried out with a teenage accomplice who is serving life in prison without parole. Muhammad, 48, died by injection at 9:11 p.m. EST after he exhausted his court appeals and Gov. Tim Kaine denied clemency.
Muhammad's attorneys earlier had asked Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because they said he was severely mentally ill.
Muhammad had been sentenced to death for killing Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station in northern Virginia. He and his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, also were suspected of fatal shootings in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana and Washington state.
Muhammad was offered a choice for his last meal, which he accepted and requested that details not be released to the public, NBC News reported.
Prosecutors chose to put Muhammad and Malvo on trial in Virginia first because of the state's willingness to execute killers. He and Malvo were also convicted of six other murders in Maryland and both were sentenced to six life terms.
The death penalty was later ruled out for Malvo because the U.S. Supreme Court barred the execution of juveniles, who was 17 during the killing spree.
The motive for the shootings in the nation's capital region remains murky. Malvo said Muhammad wanted to use the plot to extort $10 million from the government to set up a camp in Canada where homeless children would be trained as terrorists. But Muhammad's ex-wife has said she believes the attacks were a smoke screen for his plan to kill her and regain custody of their three children.
Muhammad has never testified or explained why he directed the attacks that terrorized the Washington region, with victims gunned down while doing everyday chores. People stayed indoors, and those who had to go outside weaved as they walked or bobbed their heads to make themselves less of a target.
The terror ended Oct. 24, 2002, when police captured Muhammad and Malvo as they slept at a Maryland rest stop in a car they had outfitted so a shooter could hide in the trunk and fire through a hole in the body of the vehicle.
More @ link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33827106/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday night for the sniper attacks in 2002 that... more
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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-executed-tonight/
LadybugLady's post: http://current.com/items/91414934_us-sniper-execution-appeal-denied.htmUnless Virginia Governor Tim Kaine steps in, the state will execute John Allen... more
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