The convicted Beltway sniper, John Allen Muhammad, wants to exchange the death penalty for life imprisonment. He claims he is the victim of Gulf War Syndrome and is therefore mentally ill. Muhammad’s lawyer, Jonathan Sheldon, met with members of the Kaine staff to discuss a stay of execution. Kaine stated last month that a stay of execution was very doubtful.
According to the News and Messenger:
During the meeting Thursday, Sheldon told staff members Muhammad has shown signs of brain damage, brain dysfunction and psychotic and delusional behavior. Those symptoms were made worse upon Muhammad’s return to the U.S., after serving as a sergeant in the first Gulf War.
“I am confident from our meeting and our past experiences that Governor Kaine will consider seriously and carefully our request for commuting John Muhammad’s sentence from execution to life without parole,” said Sheldon.
John Muhammad was convicted of killing Deane Meyers of Gaithersburg, MD at Battlefield Sunoco, while the man gassed up his car. In all, 13 people were killed or wounded during the rampage of terror that Mohammad and his young accomplice inflicted on our area back in 2002. Of those 13, ten died.
Sheldon and his staff also submitted to the governor a compilation of audio interviews with attorneys, as well as mental health expert and eyewitness accounts that Sheldon said supports their claim that Muhammad is mentally ill.
Sheldon also plans to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 3.
Malvo was a juvenile and is currently serving 4 life sentences. Muhammad deserves the same clemency his victims received before he and/or Malvo executed them. Governor Kaine does not want to even entertain the notion of saving this evil person’s life.
