Big Fat Story
Muhammad was, according to The Washington Post, a “serial loser.” He was twice divorced and had had two business—a karate school and a car-repair shop—go belly up. He was born John Allen Williams in Louisiana in 1960 and changed his name after converting to Islam through the Nation of Islam. He enlisted in the Army in 1985, serving in Desert Storm. In both divorces—his first marriage ended in 1985; the second in 1999—he faced bitter custody disputes. In March 2000, he picked up his children from his second marriage from school and disappeared. He was later found with the children registered in school under false names in Bellingham, Washington—where he met up with John Lee Malvo. After his children were taken away from him, he and Malvo began living in homeless shelters, apparently as father and son. By September, he was in Trenton, New Jersey, negotiating to buy a Chevrolet Caprice. Muhammad had said, according to the car dealer, that he planned to go to Washington.
Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images
The D.C. sniper attacks left 10 people dead, but they were only the beginning of the mayhem that Muhammad had planned. According to his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, Muhammad had actually wanted to kill six people a day and planned on following up the shootings by bombing schools, school buses, and children’s hospitals. His ultimate goal, according to Malvo, was to take 140 homeless men to Canada and indoctrinate them to “shut things down” in cities across the United States. Malvo also said that Muhammad had to call off a number of planned shootings because there were too many potential witnesses around.
A Virginia jury sentenced John Allen Muhammad to death on March 9, 2004. He originally appealed the sentence, but in May 2008—after he had been extradited to Maryland, found guilty of six murders there, and then returned to Virginia—he asked prosecutors to help him drop his appeals “so that you can murder this innocent black man.” His lawyers attempted to carry on his cause by arguing that brain damage rendered him incapable of legal decisions, but on September 16, 2009, the date for his execution was set: November 10, 2009. Yesterday, the Supreme Court denied his motion for an appeal. His lawyers protested, “In its effort to race John Allen Muhammad to his death before his appeals could be pursued, the state of Virginia will execute a severely mentally ill man who also suffered from Gulf War Syndrome the day before Veterans Day.” Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday evening.
Photo: Pat Sullivan / AP Photo
Judgment Day for the D.C. Sniper
On Tuesday, John Allen Muhammad was put to death by lethal injection. From his teenage accomplice to his dramatic trial, The Daily Beast recalls his reign of terror on the nation’s capital.
Muhammad’s 17-year-old accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1985. He first met Muhammad in Antigua in 2000, and his mother left him with Muhammad when she immigrated illegally to Florida. Malvo joined her in Fort Myers for a little bit, but then moved to Bellingham, Washington, to join Muhammad. Malvo would claim, at trial, that Muhammad introduced him to the Nation of Islam, summing up his teachings as, “The white man is the devil.” Taking the stand at Muhammad’s trial, Malvo looked at Muhammad and said, “I think he’s a coward. You took me in your house, and you made me a monster.”
Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Final decision rests with Governor Tim Kaine.
The Supreme Court rejected Muhammad’s appeal on Monday. His last chance for life rests with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Muhammad’s counsel, Jon Sheldon and James G. Connell, have been working tirelessly to save his life, even though Muhammad himself has stopped resisting execution. How do you go about trying to convince people to save someone whose crimes were so heinous? “John Allen Muhammad is absolutely responsible. He's guilty,” Sheldon said. “But there are glimpses of him being thoughtful. People don't want to see that. It's much easier to wrap him up into the thing he did.” Sheldon and Connell are arguing to Kaine that Muhammad suffers mental illness and brain damage from childhood beatings. The duo comes from a small Fairfax City law firm that specializes in representing some of Virginia’s most reprehensible criminals.
Photo: Steve Helber / AP Photo
On October 2, 2002, James D. Martin was shot dead in the parking lot of a Maryland grocery store. The next day, five more murders took place in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Muhammad and Malvo shot seven more people over the next three weeks, killing four. During that month, helicopters flew overhead and checkpoints slowed down D.C. traffic; people grew afraid to use gas stations, and schools curbed outdoor activities and sometimes closed. The big break in the investigation came on October 17, when Muhammad called police to say that he had shot two women during a liquor-store robbery in Montgomery, Alabama, one month earlier. Police had found Lee Boyd Malvo’s fingerprints at that crime scene, leading to the first big break in the case. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested on October 24 as they slept in their car in a rest-stop parking lot.
Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Insists on representing himself before jury.
The trial got off to an unusual start in October 2003 when Muhammad dismissed his attorneys and announced that he would represent himself. He was on trial in Virginia for the death of Dean H. Myers, the seventh victim in the D.C. shootings, though the prosecutor linked him to 16 shootings in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Alabama, and Louisiana. Muhammad maintained his own innocence, but the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death on March 9, 2004. In May 2006, Muhammad went on trial in Maryland, where six people had been killed—and Lee Boyd Malvo testified against him. Malvo reversed his claim in 2002 that he had fired most of the deadly shots, saying now that it was a cover story to help Muhammad avoid the death penalty. (Because Malvo was younger, they thought he would be more likely to be spared.) When Muhammad called Malvo “son,” Malvo snapped back “I would prefer you address me by my name.”
Photo: Steve Helber, Pool / Getty Images
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Another ex-army veteran in desperate need of help that was not given.
How many more ticking time bombs are there?
One subject I rarely seen mentioned, except in the right wing media which I try not to visit to avoid extreme nausea, is that right after 9/11 the guy was espousing extreme Islamist sentiments, which is also when he began his rampage.
That being the case, I think I understand how after his capture he might have been less than forthcoming about his motives.
And as far as some people's remarks regarding any post traumatic stress he might have felt after the way, I'd like to point out that ground combat operations for the vast majority of troops in the field during Operation Desert Storm either didn't materialize or were over within a few days.
He did have a history of severe abuse as a child which was not admitted at trial.
I am surpised that they aren't calling this a terrorist attack yet. I mean I am sure they have, but they aren't making it official or something along those lines. I mean, look at the description of this. He tried to convert to the Nation of Islam. There's the government's answer, Islam. He must be a terrorist. Oh well. They will probably do that or mark it as another black man lashing out against the man.
I think what the problem is, this is a country where a person who has a mind set to kill, possibly because the rage is burning and they have no outlet to let the rage out, can get access to the guns and ammunition needed to carry out the fantasy.
I know gun control is not the answer, but if people were actually nearby with a gun, and were able to shoot straight, chances are these type of people's killing spree would be shortened.
In most of these cases, the victims are unarmed.
What would the public reaction be if this guy had been shooting at big bonus bankers instead of random innocent anybodies?
Thank you.
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