Execution Date Set For DC Sniper

[Sionnach Glic]

RICHMOND, Va. -- A Virginia judge on Wednesday set a Nov. 10 execution date for John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 dead.

The attorney general's office last week requested that the execution be on Nov. 9, but Prince William County Circuit Judge Mary Grace O'Brien chose a day later. The date, which falls on a Tuesday, was picked so courts would be open the day before in case they have to take up last-minute appeals, said Jonathan Sheldon, Mr. Muhammad's attorney.

The date was picked during an early morning conference call with the judge, the attorney general's office and Mr. Sheldon.

Mr. Sheldon said Mr. Muhammad will appeal to the Supreme Court and ask Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency.

Mr. Muhammad was sentenced to death for the slaying of Dean Meyers, who was shot at a Manassas gas station during a three-week killing spree in October 2002 that left 10 dead in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

They were also suspected of shootings in several other states, including a killing in Louisiana and another in Alabama.

His teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, is serving life in prison for the shooting spree.

Last month, a federal appeals court rejected Mr. Muhammad's argument that prosecutors withheld critical evidence and that Mr. Muhammad never should have been allowed to act as his own attorney for a portion of his trial because he was too mentally impaired.

The attorney general's office declined to comment Wednesday.

Copyright © 2009 Associated Press

[Tsukiyumi]

Sayonara, sucker.

[Mikey]

Only 7 years later...

[Tyyr]

I'll admit I'm surprised the guy is still alive. Well good riddance to human rubbish.

[Teaos]

I agree with 7 years, I'd be concerned if it was much quicker.

[Mark]

So the American taxpayers have supported him completely for seven years. Nice. Somebody once told me each prisoner we hold in custody costs the taxpayers between $60,000 to $100,000 each. That includes food, clothing, medical and dental care, paying the staff, utilities and maintance of the facility in which they are housed, and so forth.

Ain't our system grand?

[Tsukiyumi]

This was a pretty straightforward case; all of the evidence was there. I can see a few years to verify everything, but...

IIRC, he also confessed.

[IanKennedy]

So the American taxpayers have supported him completely for seven years. Nice. Somebody once told me each prisoner we hold in custody costs the taxpayers between $60,000 to $100,000 each. That includes food, clothing, medical and dental care, paying the staff, utilities and maintance of the facility in which they are housed, and so forth.

Ain't our system grand?

Yes, it goes someway to not killing innocent people. When I say someway we have just had a case here where someone has been found innocent after 27 years in jail for something he didn't do. The exhumed a body and did DNA testing and proved it was the guy the exhumed that committed the crime. We've had similar cases one of the most famous was some Irish people accused of terrorism they spent 16 years in jail, they where cleared when the evidence against them was found to be wrong. In the US they'd likely be dead. Quite how you correct such problems in cases with the death penalty is beyond me.

[Mikey]

We've had cases like that over here, as well. It's one of the biggest knocks against the death penalty. However, I don't believe this thread was intended as a debate over the legitimacy of capital punishment. Yes, I know that the US is one of about 7 or 8 nations in the world which still excercises capital punishment. However, more germane to this topic os the question: the death penalty does exist here, and the accused was found guilty and confessed without duress or even questioning.. So then, how long should it take?

[Tyyr]

Found guilty in a trial and confessed? About as long as it takes to strap him into old sparky.

[Mikey]

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned hemp?

[Tyyr]

I'm all for public hangings but I don't know of anywhere we still do them.

[Mikey]

More's the pity. Sure would be cheaper than running an electric chair or lethal injection chamber.

[Sionnach Glic]

Personaly, I've always prefered a firing squad as a method of execution.

[Captain Seafort]

Bog-standard hemp should do - saves on electricity and ammo, and avoids the inhumanity of lethal injection.