Posted: 3/9/2004 2:57:11 PM EDT
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Clone topic Please refer to www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=232959 A United States judge rejected John Allen Muhammad's insistence of innocence and sentenced him to death today, saying his actions in a Washington-area sniper spree that left 10 people dead were "so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension".  Death sentence: John Allen Muhammad Circuit Judge LeRoy Millette Jr also turned aside a plea from Muhammad's lawyers to spare their client's life. He ordered Muhammad be executed on October 14, but that date likely will be postponed to allow appeals. Muhammad, 43, was convicted of capital murder on November 17 and a jury recommended he be sentenced to death for the October 9, 2002, murder of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station. His teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, is to be formally sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. Muhammad denied any involvement in the killings today, telling the judge, "Don't make a fool of the Constitution of the United States of America." "Just like I said at the beginning, I had nothing to do with this, and I'll say again, I had nothing to do with this," Muhammad said. But Millette said the jury's sentence was supported by law and that "these offences are so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension." Defence lawyer Peter Greenspun said Muhammad was not inherently evil. "I've represented a lot of bad guys," Greenspun said. "I've represented guys that you look them in the eye and see evil. I've spent a lot of time with John Allen Muhammad and that's not him." Defence lawyers had filed a motion yesterday arguing life in prison was the more appropriate sentence to eliminate the disparity between Muhammad's punishment and that of Malvo, 18. Malvo, who was tried separately in Chesapeake, was given life in prison by the jury in the October 14, 2002, slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a store in Virginia. Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush has no leeway to alter Malvo's sentence. In Virginia, judges can accept a jury's sentence recommendation or reduce it, but cannot increase it. Earlier today, Millette had rejected a defence request for a new trial for Muhammad. Defence attorneys based their motion on letters that Malvo wrote to another inmate in jail. Defence lawyers said they were unaware of the letters before trial and said they show Malvo acted and thought independently and was not under Muhammad's influence. Prosecutors said the letters added nothing to the case, and Millette agreed. Muhammad's lawyers have raised several issues that will likely be primary points of appeal. First, they argue that under Virginia law only the triggerman in a shooting death can be eligible for the death penalty. The six-week trial never conclusively determined who pulled the trigger in the killings, and much of the evidence suggests Malvo was the shooter. But Millette sided with prosecutors who argued that the triggerman issue is irrelevant, and that Virginia law allows a death penalty in cases in which a defendant can be shown to be "the instigator and moving spirit" of a killing. The defence team also argues that a second capital conviction based on a new antiterrorism law is both unconstitutional and improperly applied to Muhammad. The Virginia legislature passed the law after the September 11, 2001, attacks, envisioning al-Qaeda-style terrorism. The law defines terrorism as a crime committed with "the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy, conduct or activities of the government ... through intimidation or coercion." Prosecutors said the circumstances of the October 2002 sniper spree fit that definition of terrorism like a glove. Muhammad and Malvo demanded a $US10 million payment from the government to stop the shootings and left notes at shooting scenes promising "more body bags" if their demands weren't met. Authorities in Montgomery, Alabama, have expressed interest in trying both Muhammad and Malvo in a killing there a few days before the DC-area spree began. The two have been charged with capital murder in the September 21, 2002, shooting outside a liquor store that killed manager Claudine Parker and critically injured co-worker Kellie Adams. All-State Lottery anyone? For a $50 ticket, you get a chance to move the handle that opens the gallow's trapdoor. |