U.S. Supreme Court refuses to block sniper's execution

John Allen Muhammad still has a clemency petition pending before Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

By: Frank Green | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: November 09, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down John Allen Muhammad's appeal and request for a stay of execution.

Muhammad, 48, is set to die by injection at 9 p.m. tomorrow night in the state death chamber at the Greensville Correctional Center, near Jarratt.

He was condemned for the Oct., 9, 2002, slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, one of 10 people slain by Muhammad and his young accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo in Virginia, Maryland and Washington in three weeks in October 2002.

Muhammad still has a clemency petition pending before Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

The high court rejected his appeal a short time ago. However, Justice John Paul Stevens, in a statement joined by justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, was critical of the way Virginia handles appeals in death cases.

"This case highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded. Under our normal practice, Muhammad's timely petition. ... would have been reviewed at our conference on November, 24, 2009."

"Virginia has scheduled his execution for November 10, however, so we must resolve the (appeal) on an expedited basis unless we grant a temporary stay. By denying Muhammad's stay application, we have allowed Virginia to truncate our deliberative process on a matter -- involving a death row inmate -- that demands the most careful attention."

Stevens said he did not dissent with the court's decision to not hear Muhammad's appeal, but, "I do, however, remain firmly convinced that no state should be allowed to foreshorten this court's orderly review (in death cases) by executing prisoners before that review can be completed."

Jonathan Sheldon, one of Muhammad's lawyers, said, "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."

However, David Clementson, spokesman for the Vigrinia Attorney General's office, said, "we are pleased with the order from the U.S. Supreme Court. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the many victims in this case."