Should John Muhammad be executed?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

BREAKING NEWSAll Lanes on I-64 East Reopen after AccidentDC Sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad asks US Supreme Court to stop next week's execution
MARK SHERMAN Associated Press Writer
8:16 PM EST, November 3, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorneys for John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area that left 10 dead, asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to stop his execution.

The 48-year-old Muhammad is scheduled to die by injection on Nov. 10 at a Virginia prison. In court papers, his attorneys say the execution should be put off while the court considers whether his trial lawyer was ineffective.

Muhammad was convicted of killing Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas, Va., gas station during a three-week spree in October 2002 that spanned Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

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

Muhammad's lawyers also have asked Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency, saying Muhammad is mentally ill and should not be executed.

In a 40-minute video to Kaine last month, attorneys, mental health experts and witnesses describe Muhammad's illness. Muhammad's attorneys claim he has brain damage, brain dysfunction and neurological deficits, as well as psychotic and delusional behavior, exacerbated by the Gulf War Syndrome he suffered as a sergeant in the first Iraq war.

They also submitted an interview with a juror who said that she would not have sentenced Muhammad to death if she had known of his severe mental illness.

The Supreme Court has banned executing the insane or the mentally disabled, measured by an IQ less than 70, established by the age of 18, and the lack of basic adaptive skills.

Kaine has said he knows of no reason he would commute Muhammad's sentence to life in prison, but that he would review the request. As a Roman Catholic he is opposed to the death penalty, but as governor he has allowed nine executions to take place and commuted one sentence — a man who he said was too mentally ill to be executed.

Kaine usually waits for a condemned inmate to exhaust all appeals before acting on a clemency request. The court could act anytime before the scheduled execution.

[Franzl]

No, nobody should be executed for any reason, mentally stable or not.

[JSojourner]

No, nobody should be executed for any reason, mentally stable or not.

[Sewer]

2 and 3

[Rowan]

Yes. Burn in hell prick.

[Scam of God]

For someone so thoughtfully concerned with limiting the scope of the State, Gramps, you sure seem to want to defend the most extreme of its jurisdictions: that over life and death. Or is this another case of being selectively anti-government on your part?

No, absolutely not.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

2 and 3

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

For someone so thoughtfully concerned with limiting the scope of the State, Gramps, you sure seem to want to defend the most extreme of its jurisdictions: that over life and death. Or is this another case of being selectively anti-government on your part?

No, absolutely not.

Don't view things as absolutes, Einzige.....well, you can if you like, but I don't, sorry.

I view the death penalty as the price society has placed on the premeditated murder of another.  I agree with it.

So while you're right that I am concerned, very concerned, that the "state's" power must be limited(the patriot act being one of my real bugaboos), I am pro-death penalty.  You can view that anyway you choose.......again, I'm not one for absolutes, but prefer to judge each issue.

[Umengus]

yes of course

[Scam of God]

For someone so thoughtfully concerned with limiting the scope of the State, Gramps, you sure seem to want to defend the most extreme of its jurisdictions: that over life and death. Or is this another case of being selectively anti-government on your part?

No, absolutely not.

Don't view things as absolutes, Einzige.....well, you can if you like, but I don't, sorry.

I view the death penalty as the price society has placed on the premeditated murder of another.  I agree with it.

So while you're right that I am concerned, very concerned, that the "state's" power must be limited(the patriot act being one of my real bugaboos), I am pro-death penalty.  You can view that anyway you choose.......again, I'm not one for absolutes, but prefer to judge each issue.

The death penalty is an absolute. It is difficult, by its very nature, for it to not be an absolute. And you have just said that you approve of the State having ultimate authority over that absolute.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

For someone so thoughtfully concerned with limiting the scope of the State, Gramps, you sure seem to want to defend the most extreme of its jurisdictions: that over life and death. Or is this another case of being selectively anti-government on your part?

No, absolutely not.

Don't view things as absolutes, Einzige.....well, you can if you like, but I don't, sorry.

I view the death penalty as the price society has placed on the premeditated murder of another.  I agree with it.

So while you're right that I am concerned, very concerned, that the "state's" power must be limited(the patriot act being one of my real bugaboos), I am pro-death penalty.  You can view that anyway you choose.......again, I'm not one for absolutes, but prefer to judge each issue.

The death penalty is an absolute. It is difficult, by its very nature, for it to not be an absolute. And you have just said that you approve of the State having ultimate authority over that absolute.

The state permits 12 jurors (typically it is jurors) to have the ultimate authority and I agree with it.

[Tender Branson]

No, nobody should be executed for any reason, mentally stable or not.

This and the burn in hell option.

[Scam of God]

For someone so thoughtfully concerned with limiting the scope of the State, Gramps, you sure seem to want to defend the most extreme of its jurisdictions: that over life and death. Or is this another case of being selectively anti-government on your part?

No, absolutely not.

Don't view things as absolutes, Einzige.....well, you can if you like, but I don't, sorry.

I view the death penalty as the price society has placed on the premeditated murder of another.  I agree with it.

So while you're right that I am concerned, very concerned, that the "state's" power must be limited(the patriot act being one of my real bugaboos), I am pro-death penalty.  You can view that anyway you choose.......again, I'm not one for absolutes, but prefer to judge each issue.

The death penalty is an absolute. It is difficult, by its very nature, for it to not be an absolute. And you have just said that you approve of the State having ultimate authority over that absolute.

The state permits 12 jurors (typically it is jurors) to have the ultimate authority and I agree with it.

Which is why you aren't really a libertarian. Democratizing authority over life and death is the last thing we want. It is, ultimately, the root and cause of our entire ideology.

[MODU]

Yes.  Found guilty of murder (singular, though he's actually responsible for multiple) under VA law. 

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Which is why you aren't really a libertarian. Democratizing authority over life and death is the last thing we want. It is, ultimately, the root and cause of our entire ideology.

I am not a 100% libertarian, no.  I don't think I ever claimed to be.........but whatever. 

I"m glad he's on his way to meet his maker.

[Mechaman]

Pull some crazy 1984 mind control sh*t on him and use his abilities to our advantage.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

[Nhoj]

No and i try not to wish anyone to burn in hell.

[Bacon King]

No, nobody should be executed for any reason, mentally stable or not.

[ChrisJG777]

No, nobody should be executed for any reason, mentally stable or not.

[useful idiot]

Yes, and he can burn in hell.

[Joe Republic]

No.  It's concerning that he has only received seven years of punishment for killing ten people.  Furthermore, it's also concerning that so many people support the death penalty because they believe that his punishment will somehow continue after he dies; i.e. that the phrase "burn in hell" is intended literally. 

[The Mikado]

I don't support the death penalty except in extraordinary circumstances, i.e. I don't think that your "garden-variety" murderer (yes, I realize that this term might be offensive, but you know what I mean) should be executed.

John Allen Muhammad certainly fits into extraordinary circumstances.  The man's actions (and those of his accomplice) were tantamount to terrorism.  I don't think the kid with him should get the death sentence, but he should.

[minionofmidas]

Muhammad is mentally ill and should not be executed.

This.

[Lief 🗽]

I pretty much agree with Mikado. Generally I oppose the death penalty, but I support it in this case.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Yes.