It's over. Only three years after his conviction, D.C. Sniper John Muhammad was executed by lethal injection. At 9:11pm on Tuesday night, the Virginia Department of Corrections declared he was dead. Muhammad made no final statement.
Yesterday, Muhammad's attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution, because of his "mental illness". The court rejected the request without comment. Today, Governor Kaine also refused to commute or delay the execution.
Gov. Kaine said, "Having carefully reviewed the petition for clemency and judicial opinions regarding this case, I find no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury and then imposed and affirmed by the courts. Accordingly, I decline to intervene."
As regular readers of this blog probably know, I do not like the death penalty and would be happy to see it abolished. But to be honest, I'm having trouble working up any sympathy for Mr. Muhammad. His crimes were vicious, and his innocent victims were chosen at random.
I don't doubt the world is better off without John Muhammad in it.
As a resident of Texas, and member of the American-Texan community, I abhor the very idea of the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I shall not shed any tears for Mr. Muhammad, or the sacrilege that is his name.
I still hate this, though.
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