Muhammad executed for 2002 sniper killings

JARRATT -- The man who played God with sniper fire seven years ago, ending 10 lives in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, was quietly executed by injection last night.

John Allen Muhammad, 48, the leader of a two-man shooting team that kept the region in fear through much of October 2002, was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. in Virginia's death house at Greensville Correctional Center.

Muhammad was sentenced to die for the Oct. 9, 2002, slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, a civil engineer shot in the head at a Prince William County gas station where he had stopped on his way home from work.

Given the chance to make a last statement, Muhammad stared stoically at the ceiling and did not move a muscle.

At 8:58 p.m., Muhammad was led into the execution chamber. He was clean-shaven, dressed in blue denim prison clothing, an execution-team member at each side. He appeared to stumble a bit, looking down and then toward the gurney.

He was led quickly to the gurney, and his arms, legs and torso were secured with leather and nylon straps.

At 9 p.m., the team members stepped back from the gurney and a curtain was drawn, blocking the witnesses' view as IV lines were inserted in Muhammad's arms and the leads to a heart monitor were affixed to his chest.

The curtains were reopened at 9:06 p.m., and Muhammad was asked whether he wanted to make a last statement.

"He did not even look at us or acknowledge us," said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections.

At 9:07 p.m., the first of three chemicals used to execute him appeared to be moving through the IV lines. He took several deep breaths, which grew shallower; by 9:08 p.m., his breathing appeared to have stopped.

There were no complications during the execution, Traylor said.

After the execution, one of Muhammad's attorneys, Jonathan Sheldon, expressed his condolences to the victims' families as well as to Muhammad's family.

He also disputed Traylor's characterization of Muhammad as emotionless. "He had no interest in the rituals of death," Sheldon said, referring to Muhammad's refusal to make a statement.

Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert was among the more than two dozen witnesses in the public and news media witness room. Speaking to the media afterward, he said he found the execution somewhat anticlimactic, and he noted that Muhammad died much more peacefully than some of his victims.

The shootings began Oct. 2, 2002, and the terror ended Oct. 24, when Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, now serving life in prison, were captured while sleeping in their car at an interstate rest stop near Frederick, Md.

In addition to the 13 people killed or wounded in sniper shootings in this part of the country, the two also are believed to be responsible for other killings across the country.

Family members of the victims said about 20 people were in the family witness room. Additional family members had to be turned away before the execution, Traylor said.

One witness to the execution was Ola Martin, the sister of James D. Martin, who was slain Oct. 2, 2002, in Wheaton, Md. "He just went to sleep," she said. "It was a lot easier than his victims had it."

Princess Harper, of Montgomery, Ala., sister of Claudine Parker, who was shot and killed on Sept. 21, 2002, in Montgomery, said: "At least he knew what was coming."

Kwang Im Szuszka's sister, Hong Im Ballanger, was slain on Sept. 23, 2002, in Baton Rouge, La. Szuszka said she did not witness the execution but wanted to be on hand out of respect for the memory of her sister. The three said they all traveled to the execution at their own expense.

Also attending was Marion Lewis, of Mountain Home, Idaho, the father of Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, who was one of five people murdered on Oct. 3, 2002. After the execution, he said: "It's done and over. I've waited six years longer than I should have to wait for this man to die. . . . This whole thing didn't make up for it, but the whole thing rests a little easier."

An appeal by Muhammad's lawyers to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected Monday. At noon yesterday, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declined to exercise his clemency power to intervene, and Muhammad lost his last chance to avoid execution.

Shortly after, Sheldon, one of Muhammad's lawyers, said he respected the decisions, but he complained that Muhammad was "severely mentally ill" and also suffered from Gulf War syndrome.

Traylor said Muhammad met with immediate family members yesterday afternoon, but he would not identify them. He also was scheduled to meet with his lawyers yesterday.

J. Wyndal Gordon, a Baltimore lawyer who acted as "standby counsel" during Muhammad's trial, said he met with Muhammad yesterday. He described Muhammad as focused on his family and said he maintained his innocence.

"He's not a broken man," Gordon said of Muhammad. "He's accepted his fate."

Muhammad's victims were young and old, black and white, from all walks of life. They were killed or wounded without warning while pumping gas, riding a lawn mower, shopping or otherwise engaged in normal life.

"Call me God," the snipers wrote in notes to police. They eventually demanded $10 million for the killing to stop, but Muhammad's definitive motives -- if known to him -- may never be known.

Their 2003 capital-murder trials, perhaps the most widely followed in Virginia history, were moved out of Northern Virginia to the Tidewater area of the state.

Muhammad received two death sentences for the Meyers slaying, one for capital murder in the commission of terrorism related to the extortion demand, and the other for more than one murder in a three-year period.

Mildred Muhammad, his second ex-wife, believes his intent eventually was to kill her and win back custody of their three children. A number of the shootings occurred near a home in Clinton, Md., where she had taken the children to hide.

Muhammad was the 104th person executed in Virginia since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed executions to resume in 1976.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.