Court won't delay sniper's execution

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday denied John Allen Muhammad's request to stay his execution, clearing the way for Virginia to put to death the man who terrorized the Washington region as the Beltway Sniper.

Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor objected to the court's haste, saying it "highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded."

Stevens, writing for the three, said Virginia had short-circuited the process by scheduling Muhammad's execution for tonight, earlier than the court would normally have reviewed his petition for the court to take his case.

"By denying Muhammad's stay application, we have allowed Virginia to truncate our deliberative process on a matter — involving a death row inmate — that demands the most careful attention," Stevens wrote.

He said he did not disagree with the court's ultimate decision that Muhammad's petition did not warrant the court's consideration.

After the court made its decision, Jon Sheldon, the attorney for Muhammad, a onetime Tacoma resident, expressed a similar concern about the rapid pace of the review.

"In its effort to race John Allen Muhammad to his death before his appeals could be pursued, the state of Virginia will execute a severely mentally ill man who also suffered from Gulf War Syndrome the day before Veterans Day," Sheldon said.

Stevens has raised the issue before about death-row inmates being rushed to have the Supreme Court hear their claims.

He said it was "particularly unfortunate in light of the limited time Muhammad was given to make his case in the District Court."

Muhammad's lawyers had complained that Virginia law gave them too little time to present an adequate appeal.

Stevens said he remains "firmly convinced that no state should be allowed to foreshorten this court's orderly review of first-time habeas petitions by executing prisoners before that review can be completed."

Muhammad is scheduled to die by injection at 6 p.m. PST for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station during a three-week spree in 2002 across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were also suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Washington, Louisiana, Alabama and Arizona. Malvo is serving a life sentence.

Muhammad still has a clemency petition before Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine.