US sniper to be sentenced for latest murder convictions
John Allen Muhammad’s conviction for six more murders in the spree of US sniper shootings in the Washington area gives prosecutors the insurance they sought – that there is little chance he will leave prison alive.
Muhammad, 45, was convicted yesterday after a month-long trial in Rockville, Maryland, in which he acted as his own lawyer.
The verdict adds to the death sentence Muhammad previously received for a sniper shooting in Manassas, Virginia.
He faces a likely term of life in prison without parole when he is sentenced tomorrow.
The trial also gave family members some explanation for the 2002 rampage in which Muhammad and his one-time protégé, Lee Boyd Malvo, took aim at random people.
Malvo, testifying for the first time against Muhammad, told jurors that Muhammad’s original plan included far more bloodshed – and plans to bomb children.
“We may never know the whole truth, but we do know without a doubt, 100%, that Lee Boyd Malvo and John Allen Muhammad are the ones who committed the murders,” said Vicki Snider, whose brother was killed while mowing grass.
