Supreme Court Won't Save Sniper

Justices Refuse to Block Execution of John Allen Muhammad

(AP)  The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block Tuesday's scheduled execution of sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad.

The Court did not comment Monday on why it refused to consider his appeal.

Muhammad is scheduled to die by injection at a Virginia prison for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station during a three-week spree in October 2002 across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were also suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana, Alabama and Arizona. Malvo is serving a life sentence in prison.

Muhammad still has a clemency petition before Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

Muhammad's attorney, Jonathan Sheldon, released the following statement after the Supreme Court's decision: "In its effort to race John Allen Muhammad to his death before his appeals could be pursued, the state of Virginia will execute a severely mentally ill man who also suffered from Gulf War Syndrome the day before Veterans day. "

Terror Relived, as Sniper Execution Nears

When James D. Martin was shot dead on an early October evening seven years ago in the parking lot of a grocery store in Wheaton, a northern Washington suburb, it got little attention on the nightly news.

Early the next morning, a landscaper was fatally shot in nearby Rockville, also by a .223-caliber bullet. Then a cabbie, at a gas station not far away. There was another shooting a half-hour later just up the road - a woman slain as she sat reading on a sidewalk bench. Within 90 minutes, another woman was gunned down while vacuuming her van at a service station.

By 10 a.m., it was clear that something sinister was happening. Something awful.

Then it spread.

A sniper killing that night in Washington moved the killings south. The next day, a woman was wounded in a craft store parking lot in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 50 miles from Washington, D.C.

Fear reigned. People stayed indoors, afraid to go shopping or pump gas. Authorities on television recommended ways to avoid becoming targets. Schoolchildren were kept inside at recess and drilled on duck-and-cover techniques.

Then came a lull - three days without a shooting. But on Oct. 7, 13-year-old Iran Brown was shot in the chest as he was dropped off at school in Bowie, Maryland, just east of Washington.

"Shooting a kid - it's getting to be really, really personal now," a tearful Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose told a news conference as the nation's collective concerns settled on its capital.

There were three more fatal sniper shootings in Virginia the next week, followed by another break - three days. Four. Five. Just long enough for people to relax, at least a little.

"We were thinking everything was going to be OK," said retired school teacher Bernice Easter, of Wheaton.

It wasn't. On Oct. 19, a man was shot outside a steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, about 80 miles south of Washington. Three more days passed quietly. Then bus driver Conrad Johnson was killed in Aspen Hill, Maryland, not far from where the shootings began.

(Left: Sheriff's deputies place crime scene tape around cars at an Exxon station after a man was shot in Fredericksburg, Va., Oct. 11, 2002.)

On Oct. 24, police captured John Allen Muhammad and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo at a rest stop 50 miles northwest of D.C. Muhammad and Malvo had shot people at random with a high-powered rifle, firing from the trunk of a modified, beat-up Chevy Caprice. Ten were killed before authorities finally tracked down the pair at a Maryland rest stop.

The nerve-tingling terror that had gripped the region's 5.4 million people and captivated the nation was over.

As Virginia prepares to execute Muhammad on Tuesday for murdering Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station in Manassas, echoes of those three weeks on edge are reverberating throughout the region. (Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.)

"I don't think anybody felt safe," said Easter, now 82. "I was afraid to go out in my yard."

Paula Jean Hallberg, 54, of Silver Spring, felt a shiver every time she walked across the YMCA's wide-open parking lot.

"I would move about a lot," she said.

Ginger Pinchot, 67, a learning specialist from Kemp Mill, would start the gas pump and then sit inside her car.

"It was just that random feeling," she said. "It feels like a roulette wheel when you don't know where it's going to hit next."

Steve Murchake, 59, a tax accountant from Silver Spring, Maryland, remembered helicopters roaring overhead seemingly every morning as he started his commute to Herndon, Virginia, and the checkpoints that snarled Beltway traffic after nearly every shooting. Police focused on white utility vans and white box trucks, which witnesses had spotted - coincidentally, it turned out - near some of the shootings.

House painter Jose Romero, 39, of Silver Spring, parked his white van and took his car to work to avoid being stopped by police. Like everyone else, he imagined cross hairs trained on him whenever he stopped for gas.

"Keep moving around, don't be a target - that's what I heard on the news," Romero said.

Christian Torrenegra said he and his friends at Newport Mill Middle School in Kensington quit walking to a nearby mall after school and took the bus straight home instead. Safe on board, they made a game of pretending to spot the sniper.

"It was like, 'Oh, I see the van!'" said Torrenegra, now 19 and a student at Montgomery College. "We didn't want to take it seriously because we were so young, but at the same time we were scared."

(Left: John Allen Muhammad, acting as his own attorney, handles a rifle sight during his October 2003 trial in Virginia Beach, Va. He was convicted of capital murder in the death of Dean Harold Meyers.)

Rachel Pinchot, Ginger's daughter-in-law, said she hasn't been able to bring herself to go back to the Aspen Hill grocery store where James Martin was killed.

Such lasting effects aren't surprising, said N. Kyle Smith, associate professor of psychology at Ohio Wesleyan University. Negative news tends to influence one's behavior more strongly than positive information, he said, and the contagion of group anxiety can intensify one's emotional response.

"Even though the fear is gone, the effect on their behavior can still linger," Smith said.

Montgomery County's Mental Health Association received hundreds of calls from apparent first-timers during the sniper period, executive director Sharon E. Friedman said. Many were parents seeking advice on dealing with both their children's fears and their own.

"We advised people to try to stick to their routine as much as possible," even if it meant exercising at home instead of the gym, she said. "The routine is a comforting thing."

At Brookside Gardens (left), a botanical park in Wheaton, a granite monument to the region's 10 slain sniper victims invites quiet reflection on a time that was anything but tranquil. Spokeswoman Leslie McDermott said she hopes Muhammad's execution will bring calm at last.

"I think everybody was victimized," McDermott said. "I think everybody lost a sense of freedom and innocence during that time. They were scared."

[gramto8]

While seven years seems a long time, one must admit that it is a lot shorter than most. A lot of the criminals on death row are still there after twelve or fifteen years and still are riding the system. In some cases, they are FILING SUITS against the system for not catering to their every want. Unfortunately, in some cases, they are also WINNING those suits. THAT is wrong!!! I feel we are doing pretty good to be able to get rid of this one in seven years.

[rightbehind]

Well it looks like the court got this one right.

[bradkt1]

This is one scumbag that should die...the sooner the better....and I won't lose any sleep when he does.

[AndyMaxo]

I'm glad the court did not stop Muhammed's execution. He should have been dead and gone years ago. One thing is for sure: Once we execute him, he will never kill anybody else and THAT is why we do it.

[Virgil-1]

Surprises me that the so-called Supreme court didn't stop this exacution.The ACLU usually tells the Supreme court what to do.
Our government loves to spend money on criminals.
Now some poor lawyers and judges are going to lose big money
by killing this lost soul.

[bajajohn1]

You are nuts. Do you need the name of a good shrink?

[Michael0713]

I wish he was electrocuted. Lethal injection is too damn good for a filthy scumbag like him. It would be fantastic if the turd Malvo is fried with him as well.

[CBSTV]

According to the experts, people who are killed by electrocution die instantly without physical pain.

But we Americans don't want that. The more painful, the better. Otherwise, what is the point of revenge?

[CBSTV]

The United States has a culture of death. On Tuesday, we are to kill another person and throw their dead body upon the pile.

[jgg000015]

let's start a brand new pile beginning with this dirtball. And then we can throw hasan on top of him.

[hush_puppy]

and your point is?

[skeeterh3]

Let's put him in Mr. Sowell's back yard!

[jgg000015]

actually, this dirtball, hasan, and that other cleveland serial killer slimeball would make for a really nice little pile

[rgfullerton]

Yea .......... So what's your point ????

[thomasxstewa]

Thomas Stewart Von Drashek Remember, Police Chief Moose from Baltimore, Believe John Mohammed Is Being railRoaded thru System To Cover Up chief Moose Involment in Killing spree as Enabler. Spoke with Chief Moose At Secuurity Computing sympossium in 2004 & has lines that leave Little doubt. Now Name IS Completely Forgotten, yet Baltimore Honorable Mayor went On trial today for Fraud & Perjury.

[AndyMaxo]

Could you STOP translate your comment STOP from Morse code into STOP English? STOP

[skeeterh3]

Just curious? Who paid for this appeal? Somehow, I feel like the taxpayers may have stuck with this bill too!

[SusanStoHelit]

Yes, if the criminal has no money for an appeal, an appeals lawyer can be appointed. We don't give rights only to those with the money for them. And given that we have had many people on death row freed and found innocent by appeals, that is a good thing, to be sure that when we do execute someone, it's the right person.

It was a feeble case, but the lawyer is required to file it.

[scubbasteve01]

There's nothing to save here. It's time to go loser. It's time to meet your maker, buddy-boy.

[flobie55]

muhammad is a murdering curdog and a racist to boot.of course some will argue the racist part because to them, only whites can be rascist but the fact of the matter is that the guy enjoyed sniping the poor innocent people that never ever did a thing to him and his murdering associate who by the way should be laying next to him when the state mercifully mind you ,puts them to sleep like you would a sick animal. a hell of a lot more considerate than they were to there innocent victoms.how can any of you out there feel bad for these two killers? it just amazes me to no end. if it was one of your loved ones i bet you would sing a differant tune or be a liberal where you think its everyones fault that they are like they are because of society . i am delighted! tomorrow cant come soon enough. the only way he'll get a reprieve is if the gov. isnt running for another term and is a dem.

[whjohnsonjr]

This killer is a poster child for the death penalty, but how is he also a racist?

[antoniof123]

Why do we have to spend so much money killing this guy what is wrong with a reusable rope?

[Tammie49]

Muhammad's attorney, Jonathan Sheldon, released the following statement after the Supreme Court's decision: "In its effort to race John Allen Muhammad to his death before his appeals could be pursued, the state of Virginia will execute a severely mentally ill man who also suffered from Gulf War Syndrome the day before Veterans day. "


Really, he wasn't too mentally ill to load that gun and fire it, or directly aim at the intended victim(s) and get a perfect shot, or mastermind the whole murderous rampage he commited. Finally the day of reckoning has come. No one is more deserving than this man.

[PaGuy1960]

I Think the victims family should get to put the needle in.

[dwilson59]

Can I pull the switch? Fire the Gun? Put the stuff in his arm

[debbw27]

Stand in line.

[CBSTV]

Let's toss aside the values and morality we learned as children. It is American to seek revenge. If only we could be more like Saudi Arabia and cut off the hands of thieves and behead adulterers.

[gramto8]

by CBSTV November 9, 2009 7:04 PM EST
Let's toss aside the values and morality we learned as children. It is American to seek revenge. If only we could be more like Saudi Arabia and cut off the hands of thieves and behead adulterers.
__________________________________________

I'm afraid there wouldn't be very many people left if everyone who had committed adultery were beheaded. We would probably be down to about one-tenth of out population.... or less. And a whole bunch of them would only have one hand.

[ramos1129]

Normally, I am againist the death penalty. But this guy's crimes are so heinous and he is without remorse so it is right to execute him.

[whjohnsonjr]

I too am no friend of the death penalty, but this guy qualifies fully.

[SusanStoHelit]

I'm normally against the death penalty too - it should never be used when there's any room to think we've got the wrong guy, and it should only be for the worst of the worst crimes. But this guy fits all those criteria. We know it was him, and mass murder is the worst of the worst.

[SocietysNightmare]

Hypocritical! Killing is either ALWAYS RIGHT or ALWAYS WRONG. The sooner society realizes that there is NO MIDDLE GROUND, the better off everyone will be.

[askagain]

My only complaint is that this execution didn't occur years ago. Muhammad has lived seven years longer than his victims. If we told a terminal cancer victim that he could live another seven years, he would be jubilant. A seven year reprieve in a case like this is simply too long.

[debbw27]

Why is it that they use the same ploy when faced of death at the "last minute", why could they not use it months prior to save his life. I agree with andacar, I think this is a slam dunk. To bad he did not pick to have death by "gunfire" as he used with his victims.

[andacar]

I'm sorry folks. This guy may have PTSD, or gulf war syndrome, or whatever, but he is a poster child for the death penalty. I'm completely with the folks who say the death penalty is overused, unfairly handed down and often sentenced without sufficient evidence. But there isn't much doubt about this guy, neither of his guilt nor his intentions. I think the system worked in this case.

[SusanStoHelit]

Uhhhh - no one but his defense attorney - who is required to put on a case - is saying they buy into that defense.