The sentence is death

John Allen Mohammed, who along with Lee Boyd Malvo was convicted of the DC sniper shootings, has been sentenced to death. Circuit Judge LeRoy Millette Jr. agreed with the jury's recommendation and sentenced Mohammed to die for the murder of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station near Manassas.

In general, I support the death penalty as long as it is used sparingly. In this case, I believe the sentence is justified. Naturally, the lawyers for the defense have tried to spare Mohammed's life and rightly so. That's their job and they would be derelict in their duty to their client if they did not. Here's what one had to say:

“We do a disservice to our children when we kill,” wrote defense lawyers Jonathan Shapiro and Peter Greenspun. “Whether sanctioned by the state or not, killing is killing. And when the news goes out that John Muhammad was killed with the blessing of the court, the prosecutors, the legislature and the governor, children come to understand that killing is an acceptable thing.”

First of all, I think this is somewhat patronizing to children. They're not stupid. They may not know certain things but that doesn't mean they won't understand if such things are explained to them. If we explain the difference between murder and legal execution, they'll get it.

I do not celebrate when a convicted murderer is executed. I think people that stand outside the prisons waving signs and cheering when an execution is carried out have it all wrong. The execution of a citizen is one of the gravest and most serious act a society can carry out, possibly even more so than going to war. But I believe that the crimes John Allen Mohammed committed are so heinous that he has shown himself unfit for continued existence in a civilized society. Therefore, he must be forever removed from society. I don't really even consider it punishment but more like excision of a tumor. If there were a prison colony somewhere that we could drop him into where he could fend for himself and live or die on his own with no possibility of escape, I might advocate that but no such place exists anymore on this planet. It's possible that he might be reformed, but I don't think we can take the chance. And the alternative is life in prison anyway, which provides the possibility of escape, not to mention the requirement that society pay for his continued existence.

Some will say that, since we as a society failed him and allowed him to become what he is, we should bear the responsibility of providing for him. I disagree. While I do think society can have an influence on your decisions and actions, ultimately you are responsible for your own acts. There are certain exceptions such as people with certain types of tumors or brain damage but those exceptions are not present in this case. Mohammed acted of his own free will. He made the specific decision to do what he did. Therefore he, not society, must bear the responsibility of those actions.