Lawyers for John Allen Muhammad, aka the DC Sniper, are making an appeal to have his execution blocked next week. Read about John Allen Muhammad’s appeal here.
Muhammad is scheduled to face lethal injection November 10th, but his attorneys have submitted paperwork to the Supreme Court that could put things on hold. In a final attempt to challenge his conviction, they say he should not be executed until after the court reviews the efficacy of his trial lawyer. (See his mugshot above where he was apparently reluctant to look straight into the camera).
His only other chance to avoid the death penalty would be if Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine granted him clemency.
There have already been at least four other unsuccessful appeals in the case, the most recent challenged his ability to represent himself. In that appeal, attorneys argued his conviction should be overturned primarily because there was ample evidence to suggest that he was not mentally fit for self-representation, yet he was allowed to anyway.
Muhammad was found guilty in a round of mysterious killings that struck fear into an already jilted American public that was still reeling from 9/11. The ten murders were spread out between Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. in October of 2002, and earned him the nickname ‘DC Sniper.’
It must be difficult for the families of the victims to watch him meander his way through the legal process, something that is very common for those sentenced to death. Regardless of whether they support his sentence, I’m sure it makes it difficult to reach any sort of closure to have things floating in the balance.
We’ll provide an update as soon as it becomes available. Until then, check out a video related to John Allen Muhammad’s previous appeal.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:13 am
The people he killed did not have a choice to ask to live, so he should have a choice to live. Kill the Monster.