(CNN) -- Convicted Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection November 10, a Virginia corrections official said Tuesday.Too bad it doesn't default to firing squad. The irony would simply be delicious. T-minus thirteen days until Muhammad can start rotting in hell. I hope your victims get to piss on you when you pass through Purgatory on your way down...
"Inmate John Muhammad was offered a choice in method of execution, and he declined," Larry Traylor said. "Under the code, if the inmate declines to choose, it defaults to lethal injection."
My first thought upon hearing this news was that it was awfully quick for a death sentence to be carried out - until I read that the shootings happened in 2002. Seven years have passed since Muhammad and his protégé in evil Malvo shot innocent people at random in the suburbs of DC, killing 10 out of 13 people shot.
I am perplexed by this:
Attorneys for Muhammad argued last week that he should be given clemency on the grounds that he has a severe mental illness that worsened while he served in the Persian Gulf War.
A severe mental illness that doesn't allow him to realize that shooting perfectly innocent people while they live their lives is wrong is reason NOT to kill him? See, in my book, that's a perfectly valid reason to execute right there. If someone is so far gone that they can't associate "random killing" with "bad", I don't want them in my gene pool, sorry.
And I'm going to have to disagree with some of my libertarian brothers here. I think the death penalty most certainly can and should be applied by the state. I agree that it is a big deal to grant the state that kind of power, but counter with the thought that we already DO give the state that kind of power insofar as we have no problem handing over machine guns and grenades to our police force to execute no-knock warrants where anything can go. At least with executions there's going to be some level of oversight, if for no other reason than the fanatical anti-death penalty zealots who will pore over every DP case looking for uncrossed "t"s and undotted "i"s...
And as for Muhammad, my only regret is that he won't ride the lightning, because there's a perfect song for that...
That is all.
Edited for snark: Is there any truth to the rumor that H-S Precision contacted Muhammad for a testimonial?
9 comments:
my best friend was living in virginia at that time, finishing his doctorate and working at a high-crime, inner city middle school as a guidance counselor. Rob did some amazing, brave things for his school during this time. He walked children home from school who were crying in the halls. He took his co-workers and some parents' cars to gas stations and filled the tanks for them because people were TERRIFIED to go to the gas station and be marked targets. He held hands, he cried with people... he called me nightly to unload because when you're caring that much to help other people "who counsels the counselor?" was all he could wonder... he had no one to turn to in order to share his fears about his own life being snuffed while trying to help others.
and when it was all said and done i told him how proud i was of him... in all his fearful bravery. it is a period of time i look back on and feel proud of him for what he did for others.
what a weird and sad time that was. and mr. mohammad, in all his mental illness or cunning by craft, whatever it is ... good luck where you're going.
Ah, there's got to be a Pink Floyd song that will fit in there somewhere.
"Comfortably Numb" just doesn't have the same effect as "Ride the Lightning"...
So, "one shot, one kill" is apropos in this story. Seven years is a long wait, yes, but the system moves at its own pace.
As a soldier and a vet I thought he would want to die with his boots on in front of a squad - I would.
Instead, he'll get put down like a rabid dog. Appropriate.
Actually, I think the only two choices under Virginia law are lethal injection or the chair.
So, do you like your perps regular, or extra crispy?
That's a great song.
And I have it on good authority that the only reason that H-S Precision didn't use him in their marketing was that he didn't have a 100% target score.
I had the same thought you did--how are they going to execute him, what, a year or so after the crime?
Sheesh. World's moving faster than I am sometimes.
H-S Precision
Har!
He was convicted in Virginia in November of 2003; six years from the gavel going down to the needle is pretty rapid. Even in Texas, on average, it takes 10 years after conviction until the execution.
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