The Hindu : Judge likely to confirm death for sniper

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 26, 2003

International

International

Judge likely to confirm death for sniper

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON NOV. 25. The Judge overseeing the trial of John Allen Muhammad, who was convicted on two counts of committing multiple murders within a three-year period and terrorising the public, has set Feb. 12, 2004 for the formal sentencing but the expectation is that he is unlikely to set aside the death penalty awarded by the jury.

The jury on Monday awarded the death penalty after deliberating for about five hours. The 42-year-old veteran of the Gulf War showed little reaction to the decision; and some of the jurors later said that the lack of remorse was a factor in deciding the death penalty.

"I looked for something in him that might have shown remorse. And I never saw it the whole time," one of the jurors said.

For three weeks last year, Muhammad and the fellow suspect, 18-year old Lee Boyd Malvo, went on a shooting spree in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Colombia.

They were also wanted for shootings and killings in Alabama, Louisiana and Washington. In all, prosecution teams are looking at 16 shootings and 10 deaths. "They took pleasure in terrorising people, killing people. That's the kind of man that doesn't deserve to be in society," said the Virginia Prosecutor, Paul Ebert.

The state of Virginia where Muhammad and his `accomplice' are being charged and prosecuted first has some of the toughest laws in the books and comes behind Texas in the number of persons executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the mid- 1970s.

It also allows the execution of those who commit crimes at the age of 16 or 17. Malvo was 17 at the time of the shootings and killings.

Analysts believed that Muhammad's case would go on appeal on many counts including the challenge under an anti-terrorism law.

The defence is also expected to make the argument in appeal that under Virginia law, the death penalty cannot be applied as there was no evidence that Muhammad was actually the one who fired the shot.

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