Essay Example on Were he was sentenced to death Muhammad was an American

The officers were alarmed that the driver s license was from Washington state and the vehicle tag was from New Jersey Although the vehicle was suspicious enough for them to investigate and it fit the description of a vehicle associated with the shooting in Washington D C five days earlier the officers did not question the occupants extensively nor did they search the vehicle Authorities were quick to issue a media alert to the public to be on the guard for a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice sedan For the public as well as for law enforcement agencies all the way through the region this was a major change from the strange white box truck earlier sought based in the lead report sighting The trials called more than 130 witnesses and bring more than 400 pieces of evidence intended to prove that Muhammad undertook the murders and ordered Malvo to help carry it out Evidence included a rifle found in Muhammad s car that was connected by ballistics tests not only to 8 of the 10 killings in the Washington area but also to two others in Louisiana and Alabama the car itself which was modified so that a sniper could shoot from inside the trunk and a laptop computer also found in the car that contained maps with icons pinpointing shooting scenes Witness accounts that put Muhammad across the street from one shooting and his car near the scene of several others There was also a recorded phone call to a police hotline in which a man his voice identified by a detective as Muhammad s threatening the police with money in exchange for stopping the shootings On May 30 2006 a Maryland jury found John Allen Muhammad guilty of six counts of murder in Maryland In return he was sentenced to six consecutive life terms without possibility of parole on June 1 2006 Neither Alabama Arizona Louisiana nor Washington moved to try Muhammad given his death sentence for murder in Virginia In 2006 Malvo confess that the match up also killed 14 victims in California Arizona and Texas On May 6 2008 it was exposed that Muhammad asked prosecutors in a note to help him end legal appeal of his belief and death sentence An appeal filed by Muhammad s defense lawyers in April 2008 cite proof of brain damage that would render Muhammad incompetent to make legal decisions and that he should not have been allowed to represent himself at his Virginia trial On September 16 2009 Muhammad s execution date was set for November 10 2009 On November 9 2009 Muhammad s petition for review of his death sentence was denied by the U S Supreme Court