Mark Nov. 10th on your calendar. On Wednesday, Prince William County Circuit Judge Mary Grace O'Brien set that date for the execution of John Allen Muhammad, who with teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo was was involved in the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 dead.Muhammad was sentenced to death for the slaying of Dean Meyers, one of 10 people shot to death during a 2002 killing spree that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area. Malvo is serving life in prison for the murders.
The date was picked during an early morning conference call with the judge, the attorney general's office and Jonathan Sheldon, Muhammad's attorney. Originally the AG's office requested that the execution be on Nov. 9th, O'Brien chose a day later, Tuesday, in case courts are required to address last-minute appeals.
Sheldon said Muhammad will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and ask Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency. It is unlikely he will see any results from this. Last month, a federal appeals court rejected Muhammad's argument that prosecutors withheld critical evidence and that he never should have been allowed to act as his own attorney for a portion of his trial because he was mentally impaired.
Additionally, he and Lee Boyd Malvo were also suspected of shootings in several other states, including a killing in Louisiana and another in Alabama.
The rampage has also been called the Beltway Sniper killings, based on its proximity to I-495, an Interstate Highway that circles Washington, D.C. and its inner suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.
No comments:
Post a Comment