Posted on 10/23/2009 8:10:09 AM PDT by La Lydia
Space could be tight in Virginia's death house Nov. 10, with victims' family members seeking to attend the execution of Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad. Muhammad, 48, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 24, were convicted of crimes committed during a three-week shooting rampage in October 2002 that killed 10 and wounded three in Virginia, Washington and Maryland. They also have been linked to woundings and slayings in other states.
Muhammad was sentenced to death in Virginia for the Oct. 9, 2002, slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, who was shot at a Manassas-area service station where he stopped for fuel while returning home from work that evening.
Patricia D. Allue, director of the Prince William County Victim/Witness Program, said her office has spoken with 11 families interested in attending the execution...
"Certainly this execution is extraordinary -- an execution that will undoubtedly touch the lives of many nationwide and one that will hopefully bring some sense of closure or justice to all those families who lost loved ones," Allue said.
...
Meyers' brother, Robert Meyers, said this week that he and his wife plan to witness the execution. He said it is his understanding there will be members of other victims' families there as well.
...
Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said: "I can't go into any details other than to say we have given consideration to all families affected by this case."
Traylor said he could not disclose the capacity of the room used by family witnesses, which is separated by a hallway from the public and news media witness room. Though the walls are glass, the other witnesses cannot see the family members...
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.timesdispatch.com ...
As the firing squad.
I think any victims’ family members who want to attend should be allowed to. They could raise money for badly needed transportation projects by letting people buy lottery tickets to see who gets to pull the switch, or push the poison into the tube, whatever.
I vote open-air execution - public hanging!!
Hand each victim’s relative an AR15.
Popcorn AND Junior Mints.
If the families want to watch, fine with me.
The death penalty was and should be used as a deterent for crime. Sure it’s a just punishment in many cases. But for effect, the execution would need to be swift, vulgar and public.
I think Texas is the closest example of the death penalty being used as a deterent. It is no secret to civilians and criminals that Texas uses the death penalty more aggressively. That must contibute to Texas’ criminal homicide rate being where it is in comparison.
I’m a mid-south transplant from Northern VA...I lived through this. This execution should be on C-SPAN!
Bingo ... they can stand (on the firing line) as representatives of all of us who lived in MD, DC and NoVA during that crazy time.
I take it that JAM pulled a McVeigh and eschewed his appeals? 7 years is light speed for an execution.
I don't believe that's gonna work out like he's thinking.
I think the execution should be nationally televised...with a notice to all criminals (particularly those in Washington, D.C.) that "YOU ARE NEXT".
I am proud to report that Virginia, my state, is giving Texas a run for its money. We are second only because we are not as large. I think it has a definite deterrent effect.
If I was a family member of a victim, I would not attend.
I see little use to publically display my bitterness by being present at the execution.
AR15???
If the family memebers have ongoing feelings of hatred, bitterness, a need for revenge and so on....
then these murderers took much more than just the life of their loved one.
“Lee Boyd Malvo, 24, “
IIRC, he wasn’t given the death penalty...should have been.
Another example of the havoc illegal immigration causes.
Tie his hands and feet and throw him into a pit with starving pigs.
Pigs will eat anything even this guy, just hope the pigs will not get sick.
Okay families. Now hold out your hand to the condemned and extend your middle finger.
If it’s by lethal injection, I hope they would mix pig grease in with the lethal solution.
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