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John Allen Muhammad guilty on all counts

the real question is will he get the death penalty.....it won't help that he tried to escape in March....

D
 
originally posted by gwuMACaddict
did anyone really think this case would end up any other way?
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this was the first case to be tried under the state's terrorism law, and i think there was a question as to whether he would be found guilty on that charge.

i was in Rockville, MD, a couple of blocks from where a few of the shootings took place, right when they happened. we were leaving a meeting and a security guard from the building was outside patrolling, and tried to tell us about it, but she didn't speak English very well and we had no idea what she was saying, other than 'look out.' it wasn't til we got back to Washington and were in a restaurant for lunch did we see what had happened on tv.
 
Guilty on all counts after 6 hours of deliberation... he's as good as dead. Do they bake 'em in virginia or is it lethal injection?
 
Originally posted by Ambrose Chapel
this was the first case to be tried under the state's terrorism law, and i think there was a question as to whether he would be found guilty on that charge.
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Before 9/11, this would have been considered just plain homocide. The only acts of terrorism back then were blowing buildings up and hijacking airplanes.

It will be interesting to see how many crimes will bear the label of terrorism in the future that would not have borne it just a few short years ago.
 
Let him go.

Put a tracking device on his ankle and tell him that he will be shot by a sniper within a week. Purposely miss the first 5 attempts, spaced days apart, hitting things around him to make him evermore nervous. Let him get through most of day 7...

POP!

Film the whole thing and sell it to FOX.
 
Re: Let him go.

Originally posted by jayscheuerle
Put a tracking device on his ankle and tell him that he will be shot by a sniper within a week. Purposely miss the first 5 attempts, spaced days apart, hitting things around him to make him evermore nervous. Let him get through most of day 7...

POP!

Film the whole thing and sell it to FOX.
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YES! lmao. I think they should torture this guy, but noooo that would be unconstitutional. Ah well, fry the moron.
 
Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
the real question is will he get the death penalty.....it won't help that he tried to escape in March....

D
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they moved the trial to accomodate for the death penalty... i'm sure the prosecution is expecting to get it
 
The terrorism laws used were given under the Patriot Act I believe, and this is one of the very first uses, and will probably become a test case that goes to William and the Supremes for review. Too bad to, this guy doesn't deserve to be the center of all this attention.
 
I'm not at all suprised with his conviction. I agree with you mactastic, he seems to be enjoying all the publicity. It was just a ploy wanting to represent himself.

Mr. Muhammad certainly didn't allow any mercy for his victims last Spring. If he does go to prison he will be living a much better life than he had before.
 
I'm sure Malvo will be found guilty as well. The evidence is really overwhelming, and I hear he has made some statements that essentially amount to a confession. To me, the real question is how will the terror-based charges play out? Will the high court strike down or allow this type of crime to be charged? It will be the first test of the Patriot Act's terror provisions, and as such the first chance for a judicial review.

And again, it sucks that scum like these will get the notoriety for being at the center of the first Patriot Act court challenges.
 
Re: John Allen Muhammad guilty on all counts

Originally posted by Ambrose Chapel
The seven-woman, five-man jury also found Muhammad guilty of committing a murder in an act of terrorism, conspiracy and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/17/sprj.dcsp.muhammad.trial/index.html
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thank freaking god...if this man walked, especially with the lawyers playing the race card, I might had to move to Canadia
 
Certainly a case like this challenges my opposition to the death penalty. But, I still don't want to see him dead. Put him away so we don't have to worry about him harming anyone. I don't think he'll enjoy his life if he spends it in prison.
 
Originally posted by Dros
Put him away so we don't have to worry about him harming anyone. I don't think he'll enjoy his life if he spends it in prison.
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So we can pay for him to continue to live? No way, let me flip the switch please!
 
Originally posted by leet1
So we can pay for him to continue to live? No way, let me flip the switch please!
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From Amnesty International (a biased source, of course):

"A New York study estimated the cost of an execution at three times that of life imprisonment.
In Florida, each execution costs the state $3.2 million, compared to $600,000 for life imprisonment."

From this, it sounds like we are being charged for the pleasure of killing him. While it is only a few dimes per taxpayer, I'd prefer for criminals to not incur any more costs than they already have.

One obvious alternative is to reduce the high cost of death penalty cases and prevent the appeals they currently are able to generate. But to me, the error rate is already so high, cutting back on appeals would mean more innocents die, something I'm not comfortable with.
 
Originally posted by Dros
From Amnesty International (a biased source, of course):

"A New York study estimated the cost of an execution at three times that of life imprisonment.
In Florida, each execution costs the state $3.2 million, compared to $600,000 for life imprisonment."
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Anyone can find or warp statistics to back up their agenda. If it costs $3.2 million to execute a prisoner, don't you think they're doing something wrong? Just about anyone in these forums can think of a way to do it for less than a buck. As a matter of fact, run a lottery to see who gets to pull the switch and they can make money off of this.

If you're trying to discuss ethics, don't bring up cost.
 
The biggest costs to execute someone is the appeals process.

If they'd limit the amount of appeals a prisoner could make then the costs would drop dramatically. Why do you think it can take up to 25 years for a prisoner to be executed?
 
Originally posted by jayscheuerle
Anyone can find or warp statistics to back up their agenda. If it costs $3.2 million to execute a prisoner, don't you think they're doing something wrong? Just about anyone in these forums can think of a way to do it for less than a buck. As a matter of fact, run a lottery to see who gets to pull the switch and they can make money off of this.

If you're trying to discuss ethics, don't bring up cost.
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Well, I was trying to respond to the leet1 post saying we shouldn't pay to let someone live. So for that post, I wasn't trying to discuss the ethical aspects of it, but just pointing out that cost is not currently a reason to kill someone instead of imprison them. Maybe those statistics are warped. But it is the only information I can find, so why dismiss information as just statistics? I haven't seen anyone dispute that point. On what basis do you want to discuss cost other than the numbers involved?

I'm sure we could all think of ways to do it more cheaply. But as I also said, given the too high rate of innocent people being convicted, do we really want to reduce the chance for appeals? Trials cost a lot of money either way. I'm not for letting criminals off on technicalities, but neither am I for 1-hour trials with poorly trained public defenders. This case seems open and shut for sure. But nobody is sentenced to death without it seeming "a sure thing" and yet DNA evidence has demonstrated some people are innocent of the particular crimes they are accused.

As for a lottery to pull the switch... that would cheapen more than just the cost of the death penalty.
 
Originally posted by Ambrose Chapel
Is this a patriot act law? i thought it was only a state law.
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Um... No.

Congress passed the Patriot Act in the weeks after 9/11 Giving the government unsurpassed power over the whole legal system.

'Because we can' ™

We know He was Guilty to begin with... it was pretty obvious.

Makes me sad that all for $10 million the Gov't could have stopped this can could have tracked the money and got him anyway without killing more people...


:(
 
a-ha! i just needed to read the story i linked to:

Muhammad, 42, is the first person to be convicted under Virginia's terrorism law, passed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
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i guess it isn't a patriot act law, but rather something specific to virginia.

Originally posted by Mr Macman
Congress passed the Patriot Act in the weeks after 9/11 Giving the government unsurpassed power over the whole legal system.
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i know what the patriot act is; i was referring to this other terrorism law that was VA-specific
 
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