Supreme Court won't block sniper's execution
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
November 10, 2009
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| Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, inset, is set to be executed Tuesday night in the lethal injection gurney at Greensville Corrections Center. (Photos courtesy Virginia Department of Corrections) |
Muhammad's date with death» Greensville (Va.) Correctional Center
» 9 p.m. is Virginia's mandated time for lethal injections.
» Sequential intravenous injections of thipental sodium (to induce unconsciousness), pancuronium bromide (to stop breathing) and potassium chloride (to stop the heart)
The Supreme Court on Monday brushed aside an appeal by convicted Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, who is scheduled to be executed tonight by lethal injection
The court didn't provide an explanation for refusing to hear Muhammad's appeal.
If Muhammad is to be spared, it falls to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to do it. Muhammad is scheduled to die at 9 p.m.
Kaine's spokesman declined comment on Monday.
For three weeks in the fall of 2002, Muhammad and his young ward, Lee Boyd Malvo, paralyzed the Washington region with a series of sniper attacks. By the time the pair was finished, 10 people were dead and three were wounded. Muhammad is scheduled to die for the shooting of Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot while trying to gas up his car in Manassas.
After a near-fatal robbery of a pizzeria owner in Prince George's County, Muhammad and Malvo went south. Authorities say they robbed a liquor store in Alabama, killing a store clerk and wounding another, and then drove themselves back to the D.C. area. Beginning on Oct. 2, 2002, they randomly picked out people to die.
The terror of the attacks made people prisoners in their own homes. Few dared to venture outside, recesses and outdoor events were canceled and parents raced to pick up their kids. Customers ducked while pumping gas and dodged and weaved while walking down the street.
As the panic increased, Muhammad and Malvo began leaving taunting clues behind at the scene, one of which asked authorities to "call me God." Tips poured into law enforcement phone banks and the pair were actually pulled over a few times during the terror, but were never caught.
Authorities were convinced that their prey wanted to die in a blaze of glory. Instead, they were found napping in their car in a rest stop.
Malvo, then 17, has since been sentenced to life in prison. Muhammad's lawyer has tried claiming that his client wasn't mentally competent to stand trial.
