Another trial for Muhammad

John Allen Muhammad, one of the two men convicted of the sniper shootings, is now in Maryland for a second murder trial. He’s not happy about it, obviously. Six of the shootings took place in Montgomery County, which is why Muhammad and Lee Malvo are now at Montgomery Correctional Facility. Muhammad has already been sentenced to death for a shooting in Manassas and Malvo has been sentenced to life in prison for the shooting in Falls Church. Maryland prosecuters want to try the two for all six Montgomery County deaths at once, and they plan to do so in case the Virginia convictions are overturned for some reason. After the trial, Malvo and Muhammad will go back to Virginia.

4 Comments so far

  1. Don (unregistered) on August 23rd, 2005 @ 11:13 am

    I’d be perfectly happy with MD just giving us the money we spent putting those two jerks on trial and signing their name at the bottom of the conviction. If they’re so determined to be a part of something redundant, that is. Other than that, why bother?

  2. JennB (unregistered) on August 23rd, 2005 @ 11:41 am

    They want insurance in case the Virginia convictions don’t hold up. They’ll go to prison either way.

  3. Don (unregistered) on August 23rd, 2005 @ 1:27 pm

    Except there’s no statute of limitations on murder so spending all this money isn’t necessary – they could just wait to see what shakes out. More likely it’s prelude to a big pissing match over who gets to pull the switch and political posturing.

  4. Tiff (unregistered) on August 23rd, 2005 @ 2:26 pm

    No, there isn’t a statute of limitations on murder. But investigating officers retire, witnesses move away, files get lost, etc. There’s a practical limit on how long a murder can be successfully prosecuted.

    And the nature of a federal system like one we have requires that crimes be prosecuted in the jurisdiction they were committed in. It gets a little excessive for spree killers like Muhammad, but it’s part of the system that protects peoples’ rights the rest of the time.
