DC SNIPER TO BE EXECUTED
It was October 2002 and the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) was on lockdown during the three weeks when John Allen Muhammad and his then seventeen-year-old accomplice Lee Malvo terrorized communities with their random murders. Known as the DC Snipers, the two men took 10 lives before being captured. While Malvo is serving four life terms, Muhammad is set to be executed by lethal injection today.
Last week Muhammad made an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court but it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll win a stay of execution. While he sites mental illness as his reason for a stay, his ex-wife and mother of his three children stated that she’s “seen no sign of that” (Times Dispatch).
What do you think? Are you for the death penalty or against? Or is Muhammad a special case?
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(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One. TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)
Normally, I would be against the death penalty BUT there are exceptions. To me, this is one of them. There are men that have been executed that shouldn’t have been or at least showed some remorse. I haven’t seen anything from this Muhammad guy!
Sorry but I won’t be sorry when they stick the needle in this dude!
I don’t agree with the death penalty. Who are we to play god? Killing someone because they killed someone doesn’t make it right. I also think that the death penalty is an easy way out. I know that man set laws to keep the people in check but spending life in prison should be punishment enough.
I am for the death penalty, but, most of the time I do not support the justice system because it unfairly targets black males. John Allen Muhammad’s execution date sure came up quick.They didn’t waste any time on appeals for him. Seven years?…hmm
I totally agree with capital punishment. It could and should be used as a deterrent for criminals…i.e. “live by the sword, you should die by the sword”. Once found guilty the should have brought the electric chair to his house and asked him..”where can we plug this in?”
I say… What’s taking so long?
Fry his a*s!
though there are many people who commit horrific crimes and should be put down for good, I still dont believe in capitol punishment, I think its more torture to keep them in prison for there natural life, death is the easy way out though once he meets his maker that road is going to get a whole lot harder!!
shockadelica consider this…If the penalty for your crime was whatever your crime was.I think that would at-least generate some thought before committing the crime. Example: If you kill you’re killed, if you molest you or rape, the same happens to you coupled with castration. I know this may sound harsh, but the current penal system is not working because there are no real consquences.
I don’t feel any kind of way on this. I am not yea or nay for the death penalty, in my opinion I would be lost either way as a victim and as an assailant. All I know is his vicious violations for human life gripped my community. My sons were in fear to go to school and this is now over. I feel for Malvo because he was a pawn for this man who still claims his innocence. The one thing the victims will be cheated on is if this man has truly asked for forgiveness watching him die is his reward for he will no longer suffer but the victims families will. Either way tonight at 9pm he will be just another man put to death then what? Let the healing begin? For who? You never really heal when losing a loved one to such a monster and his appetite for destruction. Death was in him in the first place.
I wonder if someone is up for reelection we have child killers sitting on death row eating sleeping drinking and getting that one phone call serial killers with no death penalty. What played a fact in this speedy death sentence was 1. FBI agent and Veteran killed and 2. Location 3. Race.
I have a problem with the death penalty because there have been some men on death row that were not guilty. However, this is an exception to the rule. He purposely killed numerous innocent people. He created this situation for himself.
I am very strongly against the death penalty. Vaults justice and lands squarely on vengeance in my opinion. My heart goes out to the victims’ families. But Muhammed’s death won’t bring them back. And it’s not like society hasn’t been safe from his madness for the past 7 years of his incarceration. Malvo, his accomplice, serves life without parole, only spared because of his youth. To answer your question, Birthwrite, in VA death row inmates spend an average 7.1 years attempting to stay their executions.
Peace!
We kill people for killing people to show that killing is wrong!
There will be no justification for murder. Giving the D.C Sniper the death penalty is not going to bring back the lives of his victims.
Especially, for those of us who claim to be christians, Christ was an innocent man crucified and Barabas the thief and murderer lived. What is that telling us? It’s a reason why Christ went to the cross to die and This murderer was giving the will to live.
I am against the death penalty. We have no right to choose who shall live or die let God be God.
I think that we (man) lacks the skills and wisdom needed to determine who should live or die in any situation. I am against the death penalty because it is just wrong. The practice is so flawed that some states do not have the death penalty. It is fact that 40% of all death row inmates are African American and some states have put to death innocent people. There is no justification from putting someone to death because the death penalty is morally indefensible. By the way, how many Christians have you heard say that they do not believe in abortions but they support the death penalty? A life is a life and man does not have the right to take what God created.
I agree with Truthspeaks,shockadelica
African American Patriot,and Jeffery B.responses. When I heard this morning his time was up, my first response was it’s about time but you see that’s the carnal side or response;but then as I thought about it more I started thinking how does a person make the decision on who lives or dies. Although it’s obvious he didn’t have this same thought process when he decided to kill the 10 people that he did,but two wrongs don’t make a right. God’s word says “Thou Shall not kill”. Is the death penalty really justice for the families that lost their love ones? For the ones who will put him to death are they any better than he was? A life is a life and no one has the right to take any ones life under any circumstances..legal(death penalty) or illegal- killing a person is killing!! “Vengenance is my says the Lord” only God can really make him pay for what he has done by placing his soul in Hell eternally!!
Those who would argue against capital punishment from the Bible really need to read Romans 13. I am Christian and the Bible is not against capital punishment.that’s why God put the governmental officials in place. my point is this…if the consequences for crimes were swift and severe like they used to be in the Bible you would see crime rates decrease.
When I was younger, I was completely against the death penalty…mainly because the justice system is so flawed that innocent people are often incarcerated, and racial prejudice often plays a determining factor in the level of punishment applied. But my perspective changed somewhat as I grew older, because I came to realize that there are circumstances in which it is warranted, and I believe this is one of them. For someone who had no regard for human life during the time he randomly picked off people, I was unexpectantly surprised to learn that Muhammad has attempted to save his own life. Though it has become typical that people who were so coldblooded in taking the lives of others, often grieve over their own fates, I’m nevertheless disgusted by it.
I realize that executions of mass murderers don’t restore lives that were snuffed out, nor can they assuage the pain of victims’ loved ones. The death penalty is not even an effective deterrent because the value for their own lives has long been absent in people who plot and carry out plans to kill others. In reality, this degree of callousness toward others results from feelings self-worthlessness.
Yet, I truly believe that some people are just so innately evil that they remain a constant danger as long as they live. Charles Manson, for example, should have been put to death because his mind is so diseased that he can never be released, and his sentence of life imprisonment has only been punishment for California taxpayers who’ve been supporting him for over forty years.
Another example is Timothy McVeigh. I know I feel better that there’s no chance of his walking this earth again. Don’t you?
However, I feel sorrow for the third group of victims who are suffering the consequences of John Allen Muhammad’s actions…his children. They’ve been denied their father’s presence in their lives and will undoubtedly bear the stigma for what he did, which is unfair because they aren’t responsible for his insanity. Additionally, I didn’t think it was a wise decision for their mother to grant pictures of them to the media, because the children are just beginning their lives. They deserved to have their identities protected.
Jaydub, the death penalty isn’t that much of a deterrant to crime. If so, then the rates of violent crime would be much lower than they are.
I don’t believe in the death penalty. I think it’s very primitive and barbaric. That’s all I can say without getting too passionate about the asinine subject.
an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
I have mixed emotions on this one. I know what he done was wrong. I just can’t say a yea or a nay. I do feel that something was the matter with him. He should not have killed these people, but if I had a say so, I just don’t know. But now he is dead so let it be.
They burned this black man so fast until
I knew he would never see the light of
day again. When you kill in the manner
that he did, well. My bother was murdered, but I’ am against the death penalty. I feel that letting them suffer in jail is stll more painful.
I’m against the death penalty, but he killed innocent people. So does the punishment fit the crime? I suppose…The thing that bothers me is how quick they executed him. 7 years! Wow! But a maniac like Charles Manson still gets to breathe air?! Welcome to America.
He got what he deserved plain & simple. If he was white black people would be saying i am for the death penalty.