D.C. Sniper Given Six Life Sentences

John Allen Muhammad, the D.C. sniper, has been sentenced to six life terms by a Maryland judge.

John Allen Muhammad, convicted of carrying out a series of sniper killings in the Washington area, Thursday was sentenced to six life-in-prison terms. Montgomery County (Md.) District Court Judge James L. Ryan also said Muhammad would never be eligible for parole. The sentence was the harshest the 45-year-old Muhammad could have received. Maryland prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty, since the defendant had already been sentenced to death for another killing in Virginia.

The prosecutor was on a local NPR station (WAMU) earlier in the week and said that the reason they didn’t seek the death penalty was because it would have been radically more expensive. As it was, they managed to hold down trial costs to a remarkably low $4500.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. John Burgess says:

    The article doesn’t say whether the sentences were consecutive or concurrent… The former, I hope.