DC Sniper Execution
 

For any of those that remember this event back in 2002, the guy was executed last night by lethal injection.


RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia's governor refused to spare the life of John Allen Muhammad and cleared the way for his execution 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, was to die by injection at 9 p.m. after he exhausted his court appeals and Gov. Tim Kaine denied clemency.

Muhammad's attorneys had asked Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because they said he was severely mentally ill.

"I think crimes that are this horrible, you just can't understand them, you can't explain them," said Kaine, a Democrat known for carefully considering death penalty cases. "They completely dwarf your ability to look into the life of a person who would do something like this and understand why."

Muhammad was 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.

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.

Muhammad had been in and out of the military since he graduated from high school in Louisiana and entered the National Guard. A convert to Islam, John Allen Williams would later change his name to Muhammad.

He joined the Army in 1985 and trained in Washington state as a combat engineer. He did not take special sniper training but earned an expert rating in the M-16 rifle — the military cousin of the .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle used in the sniper shootings.

However, his life was full of failure. He was twice divorced, and after serving in the first Iraq war, he could never find financial stability.

He opened a karate school but it didn't last; neither did his car repair shop. The man who looked for self-discipline in exercise and Islam found himself living in a homeless shelter in 2001 and a few months later was accused of shoplifting food.

On Tuesday, Muhammad met with immediate family members but did not have a spiritual adviser, Virginia Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said.

The families of those killed were ready for execution day.

Cheryll Witz was one of several victims' relatives who planned to watch the execution. Malvo confessed that, at Muhammad's direction, he shot her father, Jerry Taylor, on a Tucson, Ariz., golf course in March 2002.

"He basically watched my dad breathe his last breath," Witz said. "Why shouldn't I watch his last breath?"

Death penalty opponents planned vigils across the state, and some were headed for Jarratt, about an hour south of Richmond, for the execution at Greensville Correctional Center.

Beth Panilaitis, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said those who planned to protest understand the fear that gripped the community, and the nation, during the attacks.

"The greater metro area and the citizens of Virginia have been safe from this crime for seven years," Panilaitis said. "Incarceration has worked and life without the possibility of parole has and will continue to keep the people of Virginia safe."

Kaine, Virginia's first Roman Catholic governor, has openly expressed his faith-based opposition to capital punishment, but promised as a candidate in 2005 that he would carry out Virginia's death penalty law despite his beliefs.

In September, Kaine delayed the October execution of a former Army intelligence worker from Maryland convicted of killing a northern Virginia couple, saying he needed more time to consider the case. That execution is scheduled for next week.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/...iper_execution

I wondered what happened to that guy. Thanks for the post.:)

Finally!

....took long enough to get rid of him.

wow, totally forgot about this. glad to hear he got what he deserved.

Poor guy had it rough though. Can't help but feel bad for him, though that's still no excuse to start sniping random people off.

Doesn't really matter how bad this guy had it, IMO. He took the lives of people who had promising lives and loved ones.

He becomes a converted Muslim and wanted to set up a terrorist camp up here in Canada? Great!

More ammunition for people to freak out about over that religion and our country being the hot spot for terrorists.

Must of been a freaking nightmare living in and around the area where people would be killed randomly and instantly.

Imagine the fear and anxiety.. speechless.

I remember when that was happening. It was nuts. Just as crazy as that Anthrax thing in the States. Did they ever figure out who was sending that through the mail?

On August 1, 2008, the news broke that the person the FBI believed to be the anthrax mailer had committed suicide. His name was Dr. Bruce Ivins, and he worked at the USAMRIID labs at Ft. Detrick, MD.

I remember doing a current events presentation on dc sniper before he was caught for social studies 9, damn that was a long time ago.

Werd. There are a million people that have it way worse than him but they aren't running around and popping people off like that. Perhaps if he had a serious mental illness he could have been saved but we will never know.

Good Riddance.

oO people were actually weaving and bobbing their heads....

as serious as the shootings were, this brings a funny image to my head

what the fuck
it's been 7 years? :(

lol... 7 years to do something so...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fWLtJmEhLG...in+obvious.jpg

This should have been done within a week he was captured.

wow its been that long? totally forgot about this guy. Took long enough to kill him. They should have just capped him in the head as he was being taken to jail.

the way he killed people should be the way he should be executed

It doesn't work that way.

it should be that way for any execution

I remember this when I was in 3rd year. I was shocked as hell when it was a black guy and his son driving an old Sedan. Almost everyone had the suspect pinned as a white guy driving a van.

lol, your post made me want to put that "captain obvious" picture again...

if it worked that way, this thread would have been posted 7 years ago.

Slippery slope but I agree if there caught red handed it should happen a lot quicker.

If Canada had the death penalty and it moved that swiftly David Milgaard would be dead and Larry Fisher never would have been convicted of Gail Millers murder.

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.


shit thats preety deep

he just couldn't wait for modern warfare 2