PDF: Summary of Clemency Request
Lawyers for convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad today asked Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to spare his life because the Persian Gulf War veteran suffers from "severe mental illness."
In a statement released this afternoon, they contend Muhammad should not be executed because of his "brain damage, brain dysfunction, neurological deficits as well as his psychotic and delusional behavior."
Muhammad, 48, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 24, were convicted in a three-week shooting rampage in October 2002 that killed 10 and wounded three in Virginia, Washington and Maryland.
Muhammad was sentenced to death for the Oct. 9, 2002, slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, who was shot at a Manassas-area service station.
Muhammad’s lawyers said they met with Kaine’s staff yesterday and presented a compilation of audio interviews with lawyers, mental health experts and witnesses rather than a traditional written request for executive clemency.
They said that Muhammad mental illness was exacerbated by gulf war syndrome he suffered from his service as a sergeant during the first gulf war. They said a juror in the case would not have sentenced him to death had she known he was severely mentally ill.
Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said "the governor does not comment on clemency petitions."
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