Guilty
 

For those of you who don't know, I live in the county near DC where the sniper shootings started last year. Four people were shot and killed in a single day before the terrorist(s) involved took their special brand of hatred to a wider area.

John Allen Muhammed was found guilty on all counts earlier today: two counts of murder, 1 of attempted extortion in connection with a terrorist act, and 1 count of using a firearm in the comission of a felony.

Now the jury must deliberate to decide what sentence should be handed down by the judge.

For my part, and on the part of many people around here, I do hope he gets the death penalty. Serial murder and/or mass murder are circumstances which truly merit the ultimate penalty.

I'd prefer that they lock him up and throw away the key but since they can't do that "cruel and unusual punishment", I go for frying him but that too is frowned on nowadays so let him slip off to sleep and go away.

agreed...... sadly tho... such a finding won't bring those victims back... nor will it be carried out quickly...

Random murder is a very personal thing. Let’s keep it that way.
 

Maybe just send a note to the parents of the victims with a time and drop him off in an alley.:rolleyes:

Lock him up until he's rehabilitated, exhonorated, or dead.

He'll get the death penalty, society doesn't want anything less, even though is is a hell of a lot cheaper to house him til he dies naturally.

My choice would be to shoot anyone convicted of multiple murders right in the head on the courthouse steps.

then again, I guess I'd be out of a job if we did that! LOL

I'd like to see him die, eye for an eye, just wish he had more than one life we could take from him. like gekkogecko i was very close to many of the shootings. I dunno if anyone heard of the pentagon theory about how they chose the sites (all the ones in the Michael's crafts parking lots formed a star) but based on that theory the shopping center that i work at was pointed out as the next target ... at any rate regardless of where it happened its senseless and Muhammed should be punished along w/Malvo (sp?)

If we take an "eye" from him for the "eye" he took, who takes the "eye" from us for taking his "eye"? Who takes their "eye"?

It takes entirely too long for all of this sentencing and finally the actual day of the execution to come to fruition........so I'll reserve my thoughts for the day the protestors come out of the woodwork to stop it (no more stays from the governor)......

See ya in about 14 years!

I'm glad he's been convicted. Those were scary times for your area, gekkogecko.

Gentlefolk,

At least the court was able to figure out that he was guilty of murder. One step at a time. The penalty phase of the trial has yet to occur.

Given the philosophical issues involved, we would do well to handle with kid gloves the issues surrounding appropriate treatment of the murderer. The subject of the death penalty can often bring people to express themselves intemperately. I am assuming here that everyone wishes to continue the thread.

>The subject of the death penalty can often bring people to >express themselves intemperately. I am assuming here that >everyone wishes to continue the thread.

Correct on both counts, jseal. At least for my part.

Belial, my point is *not* "an eye for an eye, a toothe for a tooth, a life for a life". For one thing, I'm not a christian.

But to argue dispassionately, we can ask "what is justice"?
A system of justice:
1. Prevents crimes from happening in the first place.
2. Corrects the unjust act.
3. Prevents future crimes from happening.

In the cases of arrest and conviction, 1 is not possible. We can ask: is it possible to apply point 2?

No. No act, life imprisonment or execution can restore a normal life to those who were shot and wounded, nor restore any life to those who were murdered.

Is it possible to apply point 3?
The vast majority of murders are actually comitted by a fairly small number of people. IOW, it it demonstrable that people who have murdered in the past are likely to murder again.
Now, we can ask, is John Allen Muhammed likely to kill again if he is allowed to live?
The answer must be yes.
Will life imprisonment guarrantee that he won't kill again? No. Absolutely not. There have been cases where convicted murders have escaped and killed, either in the act of escape or while fugitives. And there have also been murders comitted by people who were members of criminal organizations in efforts to free their compatriots. And in some cases, those compatriots have been freed, and have comitted murder again.

It is entirely appropriate to guarrantee that JAM does not commit murder again. It is therefore, appropriate to apply the death penalty in his case.

In the bible it says "revenge is mine' sayith the Lord", so let us send him to the Lord in the shortest possible time.

best quote I've ever heard fits here...

when asked if he would ever forgive the terrorists that attacked on 9-11 Norman Schwarzkopf replied...

"It is not my job to forgive. That is God's job. Mine is simply to arrange the meeting"