John Allen Muhammad | |
|---|---|
 Muhammad in the early 1990s | |
| Born | John Allen Williams December 31, 1960 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | November 10, 2009 (aged 48) |
| Cause of death | Execution by lethal injection |
| Other names | The Beltway Sniper The D.C. Sniper |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | Capital murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 10 killed, 3 injured (D.C. metropolitan area) 7 killed, 7 injured elsewhere |
Span of crimes | February 16, 2002 – October 23, 2002 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, Washington state, and Washington, D.C. |
Date apprehended | October 24, 2002 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  Louisiana Army National Guard (1978–1985) United States Army (1985–1994) |
| Years of service | 1978–1994 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Unit | 15th Engineer Battalion, 9th Infantry Division 13th Engineer Battalion, 7th Infantry Division 14th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division |
| War | Gulf War |
| Awards |
|
John Allen Muhammad (born John Allen Williams; December 31, 1960 – November 10, 2009) was an American convicted spree killer who, along with his partner and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo (then aged 17), carried out the D.C. sniper attacks of October 2002, killing seventeen people. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested in connection with the attacks on October 24, 2002, following tips from alert citizens.
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Muhammad changed his surname after joining the Nation of Islam in 1987.[1] At Muhammad's trial, the prosecution claimed that the attacks were part of a plot to kill his ex-wife and regain custody of his children, but the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support this argument.[2]
Muhammad's trial for one of the murders (of Dean Harold Meyers in Prince William County, Virginia) began in October 2003, and ended with his conviction for capital murder. Four months later he was sentenced to death. While awaiting execution in Virginia, in August 2005, Muhammad was extradited to Maryland for trial, resulting in his conviction on six counts of first-degree murder in May 2006. Upon completion of the trial activity in Maryland, he was returned to Virginia pending an agreement with another state or the District of Columbia seeking to try him. He was not tried on additional charges in other Virginia jurisdictions and faced potential trials in three other states and the District of Columbia involving other murders and attempted murders. All appeals of his conviction for killing Meyers had been rejected. Appeals for Muhammad's other trials remained pending at the time of his execution.[3]
Muhammad was executed by lethal injection on November 10, 2009, at 9:06 p.m. EST at the Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt, Virginia, and was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. EST.[4] Muhammad declined to make a final statement.[5]
- ^ "Muhammad a Gulf War vet, Islam convert". CNN. Time Warner. January 26, 2004. Archived from the original on September 12, 2005. Retrieved September 12, 2005.
- ^ "Sniper Threatened to Kill Her, Ex-Wife Tells Court". Los Angeles Times. November 20, 2003.
Horwitz, Ruane (2004). Sniper: Inside the Hunt for the Killers Who Terrorized the Nation. Random House. ISBN 034547662X. - ^ Mears, Bill (November 3, 2009). "Lawyers ask U.S. Supreme Court to block execution of Beltway sniper". CNN. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
- ^ "D.C. Sniper Muhammad Executed in Virginia". Fox News. November 12, 2009. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
- ^ Meserve, Jeanne; Ahlers, Mike M. (November 11, 2009). "Sniper John Allen Muhammad executed". CNN. Retrieved March 23, 2013.