John Allen Muhammad ( born December 31, 1960 - November 10, 2009 ) is an American serial killer known as the Washington Sniper. In 2002, along with his younger partner Lee Boyd, Malvo killed ten and seriously injured three people with a sniper rifle in the vicinity of Washington . Both were arrested on October 24, 2002 .
| John Allen Muhammad | |
|---|---|
| John allen muhammad | |
 | |
| Birth name | John Allen Williams |
| Nickname | The Washington Sniper |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | |
| Citizenship |  USA |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
| Cause of death | lethal injection |
| Occupation | , , |
| The killings | |
| Number of victims | ten |
| Kill period | September 5, 2002 - October 23, 2002 |
| The main region of the killings | Maryland , Virginia , Washington |
| Date of arrest | October 24, 2002 |
| Punishment | the death penalty |
In 2003, the jury of the Virginia state jury found Muhammad guilty, he was sentenced to death . In case the defense succeeds in appealing against the verdict, another trial was launched. In 2006, Muhammad was sentenced to six life sentences without the right to parole by a Maryland state court. By a court order in Virginia, the death sentence was carried out on November 10, 2009 [2] [3] .
Content
Biography
John Allen Williams was born in New Orleans , Louisiana . African American . He served in the National Guard and the US Army . Member of the Gulf War .
He later converted to Islam , was a member of the radical organization "The Nation of Islam ." In October 2001, he changed his name to Muhammad. There are reports that Muhammad ensured the safety of the head of the “Nation of Islam” Luis Farrahan during the " March of a million black men ", but Farrahan himself denied this information. During this period, he met a 15-year-old teenager , Boyd Malvo, and raised him as a son.
Kill Series
In October 2002, Muhammad and Malvo for three weeks shot random passersby with a rifle with an optical sight , hiding in the trunk of a car.
Within two days, several people were killed in Montgomery County , Maryland. [4] [5] On October 2, 55-year-old James Martin was killed. On October 3, 39-year-old James Buchanan was killed, 54-year-old taxi driver Prenkumar Wolekar, 34-year-old Sarah Raymos, 25-year-old Lori Ann Levays-Rivera, and 72-year-old Pascal Charlot was wounded in the chest in Washington.
On October 4, a 43-year-old woman was injured in Fredericksburg , Virginia . On October 7, a 13-year-old boy in Prince George, Maryland, was injured near a school [6] . On October 9, 53-year-old Den Herold Myers was killed in Manassas, Virginia. [7] On October 11, 53-year-old Kenneth Bridges, father of six children, was killed at a gas station near Fredricksburg, Virginia.
On Monday, October 14, in Falls Church , Fairfax , Virginia , a woman was found dead in a head gun in a parking lot in front of the Home Depot shopping center, 27 meters from the entrance. The murder occurred around 9:30 pm local time [8] . The police announced the name of the murdered - Linda Franklin ( Eng. Linda Franklin ), 47-year-old resident of Arlington , Virginia . The results of the ballistic examination conducted after the killing confirmed that the killing was carried out by a Washington sniper, thus Linda Franklin became the ninth victim in a row [9] . The victim turned out to be an employee of the FBI [10] , however, investigators refused the assumption that the sniper chose his victim based on the nature of her professional activities.
On October 19, a man was wounded near a restaurant, Virginia. October 22 wounded 35-year-old Conrad Johnson, who soon died in the hospital.
On October 24, Muhammad and Malvo were found sleeping in their Chevrolet car and arrested.
Court
At the trial, Malvo testified that Muhammad planned to kill at least six whites [11] every day for a month, as well as to arrange bomb explosions stuffed with bolts and screws in school buses, schools, children's hospitals and clinics.
The district judge sentenced Muhammad to death; the judge complied with the recommendation of the jury, at the end of November 2003 [12] found Muhammad guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the right to pardon [13] . John Allen Muhammad was convicted of the murder of 53-year-old Dean Myers on October 9, 2002, and in three other counts - terrorism , participation in a conspiracy, and illegal possession of weapons. The charge of terrorism became possible on the basis of a law adopted immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 . Muhammad did not plead guilty [14] . His lawyers insisted on commutation of the sentence, citing the inconsistency of the sentences with Muhammad and his accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo (the latter was sentenced to life imprisonment [15] ). In June 2006, Muhammad received six more life sentences for murders committed in the state of Maryland (the process in Maryland was initiated in case lawyers subsequently succeeded in achieving the abolition of the death sentence) [16] .
In early November 2009, Muhammad’s lawyers petitioned the US Supreme Court to abolish the death sentence for their client, citing the fact that he is a mentally ill person, and therefore he cannot be executed. According to lawyers, Muhammad had brain injuries, neurological disorders, and psychotic and hallucinatory behavior exacerbated by the Gulf War syndrome [17] . The Supreme Court denied the solicitation of lawyers [18] ; the reasons why he made such a decision were not made public. It is likely that such a decision was made due to the fact that the accused wrote a two-page letter to the Virginia chief prosecutor on April 23, 2008 , in which he expressed his reluctance to appeal the verdict against him, and also stated that all appeals are sent to the court against his will [19] . At the same time, Muhammad refused to accept the blame, calling himself in a letter "an innocent black man ."
On November 10, 2009, Muhammad was executed. At Greensville Correctional Center, Virginia, he was given an injection of the drug into a vein , which caused respiratory arrest and paralyzed heart muscle . According to the Associated Press , Muhammad died at 9:11 p.m. EST (1:11 a.m. CET ). According to a representative of the prison where the execution took place, Muhammad showed no desire to speak before his death [3] [20] .
Weapons and equipment
To commit the murders, Muhammad used a specially equipped vehicle and a 5.56 mm ( .223 Remington ) Bushmaster XM-15 automatic rifle with a collimator sight . Typically, the killer hit his victims with a single shot.
Reflection in Culture
Based on the events of October 2002, director Tom McLaughlin directed the feature film Washington Sniper: 23 Days of Fear . In 2013, the film "Blue Caprice" was released by director Alexander Murs.
Notes
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20091117070136/http://news.yahoo.com:80/s/ap/us_sniper_execution
- ↑ BBC NEWS | Americas | Execution date set for US sniper
- ↑ 1 2 BBC: “Washington sniper executed in Virginia”
- ↑ Five shot dead in Washington suburb , cnn.com (October 4, 2002). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ In the vicinity of Washington, they are looking for a serial killer , lenta.ru (October 3, 2002). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ An American schoolboy received gunshot wounds several minutes before the start of the lesson , lenta.ru (October 7, 2002). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ In the vicinity of Washington, another man was killed , lenta.ru (October 10, 2002). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Washington sniper brought count of victims to nine , lenta.ru (October 15, 2002). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Police wrote down the ninth victim , lenta.ru (October 15, 2002), to the Washington sniper account . Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ The ninth victim of the Washington sniper turned out to be an FBI agent , lenta.ru (October 15, 2002). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ The sniper's plan: kill six whites a day for 30 days - Telegraph
- ↑ The jury delivered the death sentence to the senior Washington sniper , lenta.ru (November 24, 2003). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Senior Washington Sniper Sentenced to Death , lenta.ru (September 3, 2004). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ A senior Washington sniper claimed no involvement in the killings , lenta.ru (October 21, 2003). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ The younger "Washington sniper" will sit until the end of his life , lenta.ru (December 24, 2003). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Senior Washington Sniper received six life sentences , lenta.ru (June 1, 2006). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Washington sniper lawyers asked to abolish the death sentence , lenta.ru (November 4, 2009). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Washington sniper lawyers failed to reverse the death sentence , lenta.ru (November 9, 2009). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Senior Washington sniper demanded to be executed , lenta.ru (May 7, 2008). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
- ↑ Washington Sniper executed , lenta.ru (November 11, 2009). Date of treatment December 6, 2011.
Links
- Detailed Description of Crimes and the Washington Sniper Investigation
- Full Coverage of John Muhammad sniper trial
- An Angry Telephone Call Provided One Crucial Clue. The New York Times, October 25, 2002 - explains tracking and arrest of Muhammad (paid article)
- Minister Louis Farrakhan addresses sniper arrest. Press Conference Transcript, October 26, 2002
- CNN Special Report: Sniper Attacks, the legal case
- Indictment Virginia. v. Muhammad
- Order changing venue: Virginia v. Muhammad
- NY Times-Prosecution closes case