If Virginia prosecutors have their way, sniper John Allen Muhammad will be executed Nov. 9.
The state Attorney General's Office sent a letter Wednesday to Prince William Circuit Court Chief Judge Lon E. Farris requesting the November execution date. The move follows last month's denial of Muhammad's final appeal in the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the letter, Senior Assistant Attorney General Katherine B. Burnett writes that the date "has been carefully coordinated with the Governor's office to insure his availability for any clemency petition Muhammad may wish to pursue."
Muhammad's attorney, Jonathan Sheldon, released the Attorney General's letter Friday. He said he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court next month.
On Aug. 7, the federal appeals court upheld Muhammad’s capital murder conviction and death sentence, rejecting claims that prosecutors withheld critical evidence.
The court also rejected claims that Muhammad never should have been allowed to act as his own attorney for the first two days of his trial.
Muhammad is sentenced to death for the Oct. 9, 2002 slaying of Dean Meyers, one of 10 people shot to death during the 2002 sniper rampage that terrorized the Washington area.
Muhammad and teen accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo killed six people in Alabama and Louisiana before moving on to Maryland, D.C. and Virginia.
Malvo is serving life in prison for the shooting spree.
Muhammad and Malvo were arrested Oct. 24, 2002 -- three weeks after the sniper shootings began with six killings in two days in Washington and Maryland.
The snipers felled victims as they mowed grass, cleaned out their cars, pumped gas and walked through store parking lots. Of the 13 shot, only three survived, including a 13-year-old Maryland boy who was hit walking to school.
Meyers, a Gaithersburg, Md., resident and Purple Heart recipient, was the ninth victim. Four more shootings followed before Muhammad and Malvo were arrested as they slept in their car at a Maryland rest area.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement