Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

D.C.-area sniper put to death after seven years

JARRATT, Va. -- John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind the sniper attacks that left 10 dead, was executed Tuesday night as relatives of the victims watched, reliving the killing spree that terrorized the Washington metro area for three weeks in October 2002.

He looked calm and stoic, but was twitching and blinking as the injections began, defiant to the end, refusing to utter any final words. Victims' families sat behind glass while watching the execution, separated from the rest of the 27 witnesses.

"He died very peacefully, much more than most of his victims," said Prince William County prosecutor Paul Ebert, who witnessed Muhammad die by injection at 9:11 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center, south of Richmond. Muhammad, dressed in a blue shirt, jeans and flip-flops, had no final statement.

Muhammad was executed for killing Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot in the head at a Manassas gas station during a spree that left 10 dead across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

"We extend our condolences not only to the families and loved ones of the victims, but also to the family and loved ones of John Allen Muhammad," said J. Wyndal Gordon, one of Muhammad's attorneys. "It's just a tragic situation all around."

Earlier, Gordon had described Muhammad as fearless and insisted he was innocent.

"He is absolutely unafraid and he will die with dignity - dignity to the point of defiance," Gordon said.

The shootings terrorized the region, as victim after victim was shot down while doing everyday chores: going shopping, pumping gas, mowing the lawn. One child was shot while walking into his middle school.

People stayed indoors. Those who did go outside weaved as they walked or bobbed their heads to make themselves a less easy target.

The reign of terror ended on Oct. 24, 2002, when police captured Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, as they slept at a Maryland rest stop in a car they had outfitted for a shooter to perch in its trunk without being detected.

Muhammad and Malvo also were suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana, Alabama and Arizona. Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Muhammad's final appeal Monday and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine denied clemency Tuesday.

Muhammad's attorneys had asked Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because they said he was severely mentally ill.

"I think crimes that are this horrible, you just can't understand them, you can't explain them," said Kaine, a Democrat known for carefully considering death penalty cases. "They completely dwarf your ability to look into the life of a person who would do something like this and understand why."

Cheryll Witz was one of several victims' family members who traveled to Virginia to watch the execution. Malvo confessed that he shot her father, Jerry Taylor, on a Tucson, Ariz., golf course in March 2002 at Muhammad's direction.

"He basically watched my dad breathe his last breath," she said. "Why shouldn't I watch his last breath?"

Muhammad met with family members in the hours before his execution but did not have a spiritual adviser, Traylor said.

Prosecutors chose to try Muhammad and Malvo in Virginia first because of the state's willingness to execute killers. He and Malvo were also convicted of six other murders in Maryland and sentenced to six life terms.

The death penalty was ruled out for Malvo, who was 17 during the killings, because the U.S. Supreme Court barred the execution of juveniles.

The motive for the shootings remains murky. Malvo said Muhammad wanted to use the plot to extort $10 million from the government to set up a camp in Canada where homeless children would be trained as terrorists. But Muhammad's ex-wife has said she believes the attacks were a smoke screen for his plan to kill her and regain custody of their three children.