DC sniper to be executed tonight for murder of 10 in deadly shooting spree, part 2

November 10, 5:32 PMCrime ExaminerCindy Adams

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Crime Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

In a March 9, 2004, file photo convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad stands as he is sentenced to death for the shooting of Dean Meyers at the Prince William County Circuit Court in Manassas, Va. Forty-eight-year-old John Allen Muhammad is set to die by lethal injection in a Virginia prison Nov. 10,2009, seven years after he and his teenage accomplice terrorized the area in and around the nation's capital. (AP Photo/Steve Helber).

Continued from Part 1

Muhammad’s attorney had asked Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to commute his client’s sentence to life in prison because of severe mental illness, however, that request was denied.

“I think crimes that are this horrible, you just can’t understand them, you can’t explain them," said Kaine. "They completely dwarf your ability to look into the life of a person who would do something like this and understand why." 

Muhammad entered the National Guard out of high school and later converted to Islam, changing his name from John Allen Williams.

In 1985 he joined the Army and trained in Washington as a combat engineer. He earned an expert rating in the M-16 rifle, which the AP reports is the “military cousin of the .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle used in the sniper shootings.”
By 2001, Muhammad found himself in a homeless shelter after his karate school and car repair shop failed.

Some of the family members of Muhammad’s victims are ready for the sniper to be put to death, but death penalty opponents are expected to protest the execution.

To see a slideshow of photos surrounding the case, click here.

Muhammad will be given a lethal injection to end his life at 9 p.m. ET tonight at the Greensville Correctional Center.

To watch breaking news and events streamed live over the Net, click here

CRIME RELATED STORIES: