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Fourth Circuit rejects DC sniper's capital habeas appeal

By Douglas A. Berman

Proving that it need not take decades to move capital appeals through the court system, the Fourth Circuit this afternoon upheld the Virginia death sentence of John Allen Muhammad, the so-called DC sniper who randomly shot sixteen people and killed ten.  As the Fourth Circuit panel opinion in the case details, Muhammad's death sentence was formally entered in March 2004.  As often happens in Virginia capital cases, Muhammad's appeals have gone through all direct review and various stages of capital review in just a matter of years, rather than taking multiple decades. Though Muhammad can still seek en banc review and petition for cert, all of his viable appeals likely will be completed relatively soon.  Virginia then can ? and likely will ? seek an execution date, and Muhammad's death sentence may be carried out while lots of people can still remember the nature and horror of his crimes...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 07, 2009 (boomark / email).