John Allen Muhammad scheduled to die this evening
John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks that terrorized the suburbs of the nation’s capital, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening at a state prison near Jarratt, Virginia.
Muhammad continued to profess his innocence during two lengthy trials — including one featuring testimony from young accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo — and in several years of legal appeals.
He repeated his assertion that he was an innocent victim of racial bias in a letter to the federal court released last week by his attorneys. Muhammad charged that police and prosecutors “lied to the American people” about his case and withheld evidence that could clear him.
Read Muhammad’s letter to the judge (link thanks to CNN)
The Supreme Court denied Muhammad’s appeal on Monday, meaning he is likely to be executed at Greensville Correctional Center at 9 p.m..
If Muhammad enters the death chamber without acknowledging his crimes, he will be known as the leader of one of the most enigmatic mass murder teams in history: Muhammad — a Gulf War veteran who was described as a “gentle man” by acquaintances; and Malvo, a young Jamaican and “A” student on a desperate search for a father figure.
Prosecutors say Muhammad, fueled by grudges against the Army and his ex-wife, plotted the cross-country shooting rampage, culminating in a killing spree in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C..
Full story here.
