Last night at 9:00, convicted murderer John Allen Muhammad was executed here in Virginia. It's about time.
Those of you who don't live in this area may have a difficult time imagining the level of terror Muhammad and his convicted partner caused here with their three-week spree of random murders of innocent people across the DC-Maryland-Northern Virginia area back in 2002. One person was shot dead at a store just across the parking lot from a fabric store Agnes visits all the time. For three weeks, we parked as close to our destinations as possible, crossed open spaces in a running crouch, and eyed parked cars and dark areas with frightened suspicion.
Mr Muhammad never admitted his guilt, despite mountains of evidence. He showed no remorse for the pain and suffering he and his partner caused. He was a walking advertisement for the death penalty.
As his date with the executioner approached, there were calls for forgiveness and for the mercy he didn't show to his ten victims. Apologists cried that his children would be left without a father, but didn't seem to care about the fatherless and motherless children the innocent victims of his cold-blooded rampage left behind.
The death penalty is the most final and terrible punishment we can inflict on someone. It should never be applied lightly. But in this case, it was justified. Mr Muhammad's accomplice is serving a life term in prison because he was a juvenile at the time of the murders; otherwise, he would have joined Muhammad in the death chamber. I hope he uses the rest of his time to think about the welcoming committee that awaits him in Hell.
Sorry if I sound a little bloodthirsty this morning, but I lived through the sniper killings and worried every day about whether my family was safe.
So long, John Allen Muhammad. Hope it's hot enough for you down there.
Have a good day. I'll my usual grouchy self again tomorrow.
Bilbo
4 comments:
Could not agree with you more
I remember those sniper killings. It was so cold blooded! That was way before I started blogging and of course reading your blog but to know now that it was in areas that you visited is still horrible. I do agree that in some cases, the death penalty is justified.
Great Post - however lethal injection was too humane, we should have been able to let him run in an open area and take shots at him.
Considering what Muhammad's wife has been saying, apparently he was even worse than we know--he murdered at least several other unknown victims, and she claims it all was an elaborate cover-up for her impending murder. While I personally doubt it, she might be right. This takes sociopathology to a new level. In the horror movies and where I'm from we kill monsters. This guy clearly qualified.
I can testify that Bilbo was not exagerrating in the slightest the effect Muhammad had on this area. Little did we know he was giving us a taste of what unfortunately citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq, Darfur, etc., live with everyday. The bad guys there use multi-casualty bombs that can take out ten times the people than Muhammad took out all together.
Our fighting them is justified by that fact alone: as the world's policeman (and I think that is a good thing; would you want Idi Amin to do it instead?) stopping random killings is enough of a justification to risk brave and dedicated troops. Absent of a Second Coming, that's the only way we will have peace on earth.
Eminence Grise.
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