By Stephen Kopko
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
VIRGINIA, United States – Governor Tim Kaine denied a stay of execution order submitted by John Allen Muhammad on Tuesday. Muhammad is the Washington, D.C. sniper who took the lives of several people during a three week killing spree in 2002. He is set to die by lethal injection at 9pm EST.
In 2002, Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo terrorized the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Muhammad’s victims were innocent bystanders doing everyday tasks such as pumping gas into their cars or shopping. During a three week period they killed ten people. They were apprehended by police at a gas station on October 24, 2002. Police discovered that they had cut out a hole in the trunk of their car in order to shoot out of the back of the car.
Muhammad’s sentence came after his conviction for the murder of Dean Harold Meyers at a Virginia gas station. Maryland prosecutors then indicted Muhammad and brought him to the state to be tried for the murder of the six Maryland residents. At that trial, Malvo testified that the purpose of the shootings was to extort the government and to use that money to establish a terrorist training facility in Canada. Muhammad testified at the trial that his purpose was to disrupt authorities so that he could kill his ex-wife and sneak away with his three children to Canada, pinning the blame on the suspected serial killers.
Governor Kaine denied Muhammad’s stay of execution stating that he found no “compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was recommended by a jury.” Muhammad’s lawyers appealed to the United States Supreme Court before appealing to the governor. They argued that Muhammad was mentally ill and suffers from brain damage caused by beatings he received as a child. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case. However, three justices objected to the quickness of the execution. Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor wrote that they did not disagree with the execution of Muhammad but did believe that more time was needed to carefully examine his appeal.
Death penalty opponents disagreed with Governor Kaine’s and the Supreme Court’s decision not to stay the execution. Beth Panilaitis, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty stated that “incarceration has worked and life without the possibility of parole will continue to keep the people of Virginia safe.”
For more information, please see:
Examiner – One D.C. sniper will die tonight, though the other lives on – 10 November 2009
MSNBC – Clemency for D.C.-area sniper is denied – 10 November 2009
NYTIMES – Virginia Governor Will Not Stay Sniper Execution – 10 November 2009
