Sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death by a judge who called the Washington-area shootings that left 10 dead "so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension."
Muhammad denied any involvement in the October 2002 rampage, echoing a claim of innocence he made in his opening statement to the jury when he briefly served as his own attorney.
"Just like I said at the beginning, I had nothing to do with this, and I'll say again, I had nothing to do with this," Muhammad said. He told the judge he plans to appeal, and urged, "Don't make a fool of the Constitution of the United States of America."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Muhammad's teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was to be sentenced yesterday to life in prison after a jury spared him the death penalty.
A jury recommended a death sentence for Muhammad last year, but Circuit Court Judge LeRoy Millette had the option to reduce it to life in prison without parole. Millette said the evidence of Muhammad's guilt was "overwhelming."
"These offenses are so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension," Millette said Tuesday.
Muhammad appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit with a slightly graying, unkempt beard, in sharp contrast to his clean-shaven, well-dressed appearance at trial.
About 50 family members of sniper victims were in the courtroom. One silently shook his fist as Millette announced the sentence.
"Justice has been served today," said Sonia Wills, mother of sniper victim Conrad Johnson, who would have been 37 this Sunday.
"I can go to my son's grave and wish him a happy birthday," she said.
The sister of Hong Im Ballenger, allegedly killed by Muhammad and Malvo in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the weeks before the Washington attacks, said Muhammad deserved to die.
"He killed so many innocent people," said a tearful Kwang Im Szuszka.
"My nephew is 12 years old and he needs his mommy. ... It breaks my heart," she said.
Muhammad, 43, was convicted of capital murder on Nov. 17 for the Oct. 9, 2002, murder of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station near Manassas.
During Muhammad's trial, prosecutors described him as "captain of a killing team" and as a father figure to the teenage Malvo.
The capital-area killings began on Oct. 2, 2002, when the pair shot a 55-year-old man to death outside a supermarket in Wheaton, Maryland. The following day, five people were killed in the Washington area -- four within a span of about two hours.
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