UPDATE: DC Sniper Executed Tuesday Evening

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine denied clemency Tuesday at noon, which was the shooter's last hope.

UPDATE: John Allen Muhammad, the sniper behind the murders of at least 10 people during the fall of 2002, died Tuesday evening at 9:11pm by lethal injection at Virginia's Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. Prison officials say Muhammah offered no final statement and remained silent during the execution. WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - John Allen Muhammad, the sniper who terrorized the Mid-Atlantic area of the country in the fall of 2002, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection tonight at 9:00pm EST. Both the Supreme Court and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine have refused into intervene in the execution.

Muhammad, 48, was sentenced to death for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers on Oct. 9, 2002. The incident took place at a gas station near Manassas, Virginia.

In all, 10 people were left dead from a shooting spree by Muhammad and his partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, that lasted three weeks. People in so terrified by the snipers that they were reluctant to go to gas stations, public malls, and even use public transportation.

Later it was learned that the duo shot from the rear of a modified blue Chevrolet sedan with a Bushmaster .223 rifle. They were finally apprehended near Frederick, Maryland on October 24, 2002. Malvo was only 17 years old at the time.

Both were convicted of six other murders in Maryland and sentenced to six life terms. In addition, they were suspects regarding fatal shootings in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana and Washington state.

With appeals exhausted all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Muhammad's last hope was clemency by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine who waited for all other legal venues to be concluded before publicizing any decision.

As a Catholic, Kaine has gone on record as personally opposed to capital punishment. As governor, he opposed the use of the electric chair and vetoed several attempts to expand the death penalty. During his 2005 Campaign he did indicate he would uphold the Commonwealth's death penalty laws and nine executions have taken place during his governorship.

In June of 2008, the governor commuted the death sentence of triple murderer Percy Walton to life in prison due to mental illness. Muhammad's attorney, Jonathan Sheldon, made the same claim of mental illness with regard to his client.

At noon on Tuesday, Governor Kaine made it clear that he would not intervene. In a statement he said, "Muhammad's trial, verdict, and sentence have been reviewed by state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of Virginia, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

"Having carefully reviewed the petition for clemency and judicial opinions regarding this case, I find no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury and then imposed and affirmed by the courts. Accordingly, I decline to intervene."

The man known as the DC Sniper, or Beltway Sniper, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at Virginia's Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia, which is located south of state capital of Richmond.

Before his execution, Muhammad will be given the opportunity for a brief statement. Members of victims' families as well as those from the various law enforcement departments who investigated and prosecutors will be present to witness his death.

Authorities had never been able to specify the motive for the three week siege and it has never been made clear which of the two actually shot the victims. Since Malvo was a minor at the time of the incident, the death penalty was ruled out due to a Supreme Court ban on the execution of minors. He is serving life in prison without parole.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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