April 22 VIRGINIA: Virginia Supreme Court affirms sniper's death penalty In Richmond, the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the death penalty for sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad. "If society's ultimate penalty should be reserved for the most heinous offenses, accompanied by proof of vileness or future dangerousness, then surely this case qualifies," Justice Donald Lemons wrote. Muhammad was convicted by a Virginia Beach jury of 2 counts of capital murder for the shooting of Dean Harold Meyers in Prince William County. It was one of ten sniper killings that terrorized the Washington, D.C. region during a three-week period in October 2002. Lawyers for Muhammad argued on appeal that Muhammad could not be sentenced to death under state law because he was not the triggerman in the shooting spree. They also claimed that a new anti-terrorism law used against Muhammad is unconstitutional and that prosecutors improperly offered conflicting theories in the trials of Muhammad and his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo. Muhammad's prosecutors portrayed him as a manipulator who molded his then-17-year-old cohort into a killer, defense attorneys said, while Malvo's prosecutors described the teenager as a willful, independent thinker who was free of the older man's influence. Malvo is serving life in prison without parole for the slayings of Philadelphia businessman Kenneth Bridges and FBI analyst Linda Franklin. (source: Associated Press) ******************** Accused 9/11 figure Moussaoui set to plead guilty Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, was set on Friday to admit his role in the plot and plead guilty to charges that carry the death penalty. Rejecting arguments by Moussaoui's attorneys who questioned his mental competence, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, has scheduled a hearing at 3:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) to accept his guilty plea. Moussaoui, charged 3 months after the attacks in 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people, is accused of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft, use weapons of mass destruction, murder U.S. employees and destroy property. Four of the 6 counts carry the death penalty. Sources involved in the case said the French citizen of Moroccan descent planned to plead guilty to all 6 counts and that he knows he could get the death penalty. The sentencing part of the case would be scheduled later if Moussaoui, 36, goes through with his plans and if the judge accepts his guilty plea. Brinkema said she found Moussaoui to be "fully competent to plead guilty to the indictment" after meeting with him and one of his attorneys earlier in the week. Government officials said Moussaoui, who wanted to plead guilty three years ago and then changed his mind, might back out at the last minute, especially after the judge makes sure he understands his rights. "I wouldn't be surprised if he backs off," one federal law enforcement official said. ALLEGIANCE TO BIN LADEN At the hearings in July 2002 when he changed his mind about pleading guilty, Moussaoui said he was not involved in the hijackings, but that he was an al Qaeda member who pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden. His trial has been delayed by legal wrangling over a number of issues, including his mental fitness, whether he could represent himself and whether he could interview top al Qaeda captives held by the United States at undisclosed locations overseas. The U.S. Supreme Court a month ago rejected an appeal by Moussaoui, who argued that he could not get a fair trial without access to the al Qaeda captives who could help his defense. His intended role with al Qaeda has never been clearly explained. The indictment said he received the same training and preparation as the 19 hijackers. Moussaoui attended flight training schools in Oklahoma and Minnesota in 2001 and received money from an al Qaeda operative who helped finance the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to the indictment. But just weeks before the attacks, he was jailed in Minnesota on immigration charges after a flight trainer told the FBI that Moussaoui had acted suspiciously. Some U.S. officials initially said they believed Moussaoui was supposed to have taken part in the Sept. 11 attacks as the "20th hijacker." Others later said he was supposed to have been part of a "second wave" of attacks that were never carried out. (source: Reuters) NORTH CAROLINA----possible military death penalty Soldier Guilty of Murder in Kuwait Grenade Attack A U.S. military court convicted an Army sergeant of murder on Thursday for killing 2 officers in a grenade attack on his comrades in Kuwait 2 years ago, military officials said. The court found Sgt. Hasan Akbar, a former member of the 101st Airborne Division, guilty by unanimous vote on two counts of premeditated murder and 3 counts of attempted premeditated murder, officials said in a written statement. Akbar faces 3 possible sentences: death, life in prison or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentencing phase of the trial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was scheduled to begin on Monday. The charges stemmed from a nighttime attack at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait on March 23, 2003, as 101st Airborne soldiers awaited orders to move into Iraq at the start of the war. Akbar was accused of rolling grenades into soldiers' tents and firing a rifle at those who emerged. 2 officers were killed and 14 troops were wounded. The last time a U.S. soldier faced a court-martial for murdering a comrade in wartime was during the Vietnam War and the last military execution was in 1961. Akbar's mother and military lawyers said Akbar snapped in the face of relentless ridicule of his Muslim faith and harassment by fellow soldiers, according to a published report. (source: Reuters) KENTUCKY: Expert: Inmate may have had pain Eddie Lee Harper did not have enough pain killer in his blood to properly anesthetize him, a researcher testified Thursday at the end of the legal attack on Kentucky's lethal injection procedures. Pharmacist Dr. William Watson said the autopsy of Harper after his May 1999 execution showed a level of sodium thiopental that was too low to provide an adequate level of unconsciousness. "He could have experienced pain," Watson said. The testimony conflicted somewhat with earlier comments from medical experts about the 1st of the 3 drugs used in capital punishment. The 1st drug is designed to put the inmate to sleep. The following drugs paralyze, then kill. 2 death row inmates, Thomas Clyde Bowling and Ralph Baze, filed suit to claim the state's chosen drugs and procedures cause unconstitutional pain and cruelty. Franklin County Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden halted Bowling's planned execution in November 2004 just days before it was scheduled. Experts brought in by Bowling's Department of Public Advocacy attorneys have raised questions about the drug combination and other procedures, such as how intravenous lines are to be inserted. Watson said the first drug was probably insufficient to provide any unconsciousness or pain relief except for about 5 minutes. Records from Harper's execution show the 1st drug was administered 12 minutes before death was declared. But an anesthesiologist testified Wednesday that it appeared Harper actually died about 5 minutes into the procedure. Crittenden denied a request for a dismissal of the case from attorneys for the Corrections Department and attorney general's office. "They haven't shown any evidence that Kentucky doesn't take appropriate safeguards during an execution," Corrections attorney Jeff Middendorf said. Middendorf said the entire litigation was designed to sway public opinion on lethal injection and the death penalty and said it was an affront to the victims of the crimes committed by Bowling and Baze. Public defender Ted Shouse countered that the testimony during the 4 days demonstrated that Harper was "almost certainly conscious" during his execution and the modest changes in procedures have done nothing to reduce that threat for future executions. Corrections will present its own expert witness on May 2, when the hearing is scheduled to resume. After the proceedings, Crittenden will decide whether to lift the stay of execution he granted for Bowling. His ruling will almost certainly be appealed however it turns out. (source: Associated Press) MARYLAND: Giving Cover to Witnesses In Baltimore, murders are up and convictions are down. You read that correctly: Even as the city has gained the dubious distinction of having the nation's highest big-city murder rate, prosecutors say that conviction rates in homicide cases are falling. The main cause is that, increasingly, witnesses will not cooperate or testify, often because they are afraid. And no wonder: Since last September seven witnesses have been shot or murdered -- a rate of about one a month. Other cases have been dropped for the same reason, not only in Baltimore but also in Prince George's County. This venomous trend, says the chief state prosecutor in Baltimore, Patricia C. Jessamy, "threatens to bring justice to a standstill." The state is taking a step in the right direction -- albeit a small step -- by stiffening penalties for witness intimidation and making it slightly easier for prosecutors to introduce hearsay testimony at trials when scared (or dead) witnesses will not or cannot appear. The question is whether more can be done. One proposal is to beef up resources for existing witness-protection measures, such as funds to put up witnesses in hotels or to pay their security deposits if they move. But the fact is that a fund for that purpose in Maryland, administered by the State's Attorneys' Association and replenished by court costs charged to defendants, already seems to provide all the money needed; the fund has never been depleted, and no state's attorney requesting a grant from it has been turned down. Another idea, which would require the allocation of more money and organizational attention, is to create a program that attempts to replicate on the state level what the federal government does nationally to protect witnesses (usually from the mob): give them new identities and permanent new homes, possibly out of state. That approach would require help from federal authorities, but it may gain appeal as threats and violence against witnesses become the norm in some neighborhoods that combine high crime and low income. Still, the brainstorming of lawmakers may run aground on cultural realities. Well over half the witnesses in Baltimore who are offered assistance turn it down. Many of them, criminals themselves, prefer to go underground or wait out the threat -- anything to avoid the appearance of cooperating with the authorities, even if it means risking their lives. Perhaps police and prosecutors should take their cue from a DVD that made the rounds in tough inner-city neighborhoods a few months ago, warning people in violent terms to "stop snitching" to the cops. NBA star and Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony was seen in the video, though he later disavowed its message. Mr. Anthony, who plays for the Denver Nuggets, and other popular local figures, such as rap artists and movie stars, should be urged to make themselves available for a new series of videos encouraging people to help clean up their own neighborhoods by helping send bad guys to prison. Sound futile? To the contrary: What could be more futile than having police and prosecutors spend time and money pursuing murderers only to see them go free because witnesses slip from their grasp? (source: Editorial, Washington Post)
