John Allen Muhammad sentenced to death for sniper shootings

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A jury decided Monday that John Allen Muhammad should be executed for masterminding the sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington area for three weeks last fall.

As the verdict was read, Muhammad maintained the same unflinching demeanor he has shown through most of the trial.

Jurors sent word they had reached a decision after deliberating five hours over two days. Jurors convicted the 42-year-old Army veteran of murder a week ago and then heard testimony in the sentencing phase.

The jury’s recommendation is not final. Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. can reduce the punishment to life in prison without parole when Muhammad is formally sentenced, but Virginia judges rarely take such action.

The jury concluded that prosecutors proved at least one of two aggravating factors allowing the death penalty: that Muhammad would pose a danger in the future or that his crimes were wantonly vile.

When Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested on Oct. 24, 2002, various jurisdictions scrambled to prosecute them. Ultimately, Attorney General John Ashcroft sent the two to Virginia to stand trial, citing the state’s ability to impose “the ultimate sanction.”

Only Texas has executed more people than Virginia since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 – 310 to 89. Virginia is one of 21 states that allow the execution of inmates who committed capital crimes as 16- and 17-year-olds. Malvo was 17 at the time of the shootings.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, defense lawyers sought to portray Muhammad as a caring family man, showing jurors a home movie in which he plays with his children and encourages them to take their first steps. Several witnesses also testified he had a loving relationship with his kids.

But prosecutor James Willett said “that person no longer exists.”

“He doesn’t care about children, human life or anything else God put on this earth except himself,” Willett said Thursday as he urged jurors to give Muhammad a death sentence.

Willett said Muhammad may have been a good father once, but “that person no longer exists. … That person was murdered by this individual just as viciously and just as completely as everybody else.”

The defense was barred from presenting any mental health evidence on Muhammad’s behalf, because Muhammad refused to be interviewed by the prosecutuors’ psychiatrist. The defense had previously suggested Muhammad may have suffered from Gulf War syndrome, and his ex-wife said that Muhammad’s behavior was much different after he returned from Operation Desert Storm.