Washington sniper sentenced to death

MANASSAS, Va. -- A judge rejected John Allen Muhammad's insistence of innocence and sentenced him to death Tuesday, saying his actions in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings leaving 10 people dead were "so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension."\nCircuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. also turned aside a plea from Muhammad's lawyers to spare their client's life. He ordered Muhammad to be executed Oct. 14, but that date likely will be postponed to allow appeals.\nMuhammad, 43, was convicted of capital murder Nov. 17 and a jury recommended he be sentenced to death for the Oct. 9, 2002 murder of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station near Manassas. His teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, is to be sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.\nMuhammad denied any involvement in the killings Tuesday, telling the judge, "Don't make a fool of the Constitution of the United States of America."\n"Just like I said at the beginning, I had nothing to do with this, and I'll say again, I had nothing to do with this," Muhammad said.\nBut Millette said the jury's sentence was supported by law and that "these offenses are so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension."\nDuring Muhammad's trial, prosecutor's described him as "captain of a killing team" and portrayed him as Malvo's father figure, a stern and controlling man who trained the teenager to do his bidding.\nLarry Meyers, older brother of the victim, testified Tuesday "Dean meant so much to each and every one of us. I'd prefer to remember the good times."\nSonia Wills, mother of sniper victim Conrad Johnson, said afterward, "Justice has been served today. I can go to my son's grave and wish him a happy birthday this Sunday." She said he would have been 37.\nDefense lawyer Peter Greenspun told the judge Muhammad is not inherently evil.\n"I've represented a lot of bad guys," Greenspun said. "I've represented guys that you look them in the eye and see evil. I've spent a lot of time with John Allen Muhammad and that's not him."\nProsecutor Paul Ebert disagreed. "I see nothing but pure evil," he said after the hearing.\nDefense lawyers had filed a motion Monday arguing that life in prison was the more appropriate sentence to eliminate the disparity between Muhammad's punishment and that of Malvo, 18.\nMalvo, who was tried separately in Chesapeake, Va., was given life in prison by the jury in the Oct. 14, 2002 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Falls Church, Va., Home Depot store.\nCircuit Judge Jane Marum Roush has no leeway Wednesday to alter Malvo's sentence. In Virginia, judges can accept a jury's sentence recommendation or reduce it, but cannot increase it.\nProsecutors said the letters added nothing to the case, and Millette agreed.\nMuhammad's lawyers have raised several issues likely be primary points of appeal. First, they argue under Virginia law only the triggerman in a shooting death can be eligible for the death penalty. The six-week trial never conclusively determined who was the triggerman in the killings, and much of the evidence suggests Malvo was the shooter.\nBut Millette sided with prosecutors who argued the triggerman issue is irrelevant, and Virginia law allows a death penalty in cases in which a defendant can be shown to be "the instigator and moving spirit" of a killing.\nThe defense team also argues a second capital conviction based on a new anti-terrorism law is both unconstitutional and improperly applied to Muhammad. The Virginia legislature passed the law after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, envisioning al Qaeda-style terrorism.\nThe law defines terrorism as a crime committed with "the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy, conduct or activities of the government ... through intimidation or coercion."\nProsecutors said the circumstances of the October 2002 sniper spree fit the definition of terrorism like a glove. Muhammad and Malvo demanded a $10 million payment from the government to stop the shootings and left notes at shooting scenes promising "more body bags" if their demands weren't met.\nThe capital-area killings began Oct. 2, 2002, when the pair shot a 55-year-old man to death outside a Wheaton, Md., supermarket. The following day, five people were killed in Maryland and Washington, D.C. -- four within a span of about two hours. On Oct. 4, the two expanded their shooting spree to Virginia, seriously wounding a woman.\nFrom then until the two were captured Oct. 24, millions of residents lived in fear. Schools as far south as Richmond, Va. closed down, while others canceled all outdoor activities.\nMuhammad and Malvo were captured at a highway rest stop near Myersville, Md., in a car altered to allow someone to fire a high-powered rifle from inside the trunk.\nThey were subsequently linked to three killings in September 2002, in Atlanta, Montgomery, Ala. and Baton Rouge, La. Alabama officials have said they hope to try Malvo and Muhammad for the killing there.