Sniper victims' kin weigh in on justice
Everyone wants a crack at the DC snipers. Who goes first is the $64,000 question, and it will go a long ways towards determining the severity of the punishment meted out. For now, though, the families of the victims are left to ponder just what punishment is just.
As the case against suspects John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, enters a complex and no doubt lengthy legal phase, the families of the shooting victims are struggling with their own ideas of what constitutes justice. Many say they are avidly following developments in the case and hope eventually to attend court proceedings. But they refrain from criticizing area prosecutors who have been jockeying for first crack at trying the suspects, and most stop short of offering an opinion about whether the death penalty is warranted.
"They're going to allow the court to do its job," said Bill Murray of the FBI, a spokesman for the family of slain FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, killed outside a Falls Church, Va., Home Depot on Oct. 14.
"Law enforcement has done its job in arresting these perpetrators," he said, "and now it's up to the courts to prosecute the case." Murray added that the Franklin family is not commenting on the death penalty.
But questions about the death penalty are paramount as prosecutors build their cases in jurisdictions in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Federal prosecutors also have charged the pair. And, because Malvo and Muhammad are in federal custody, it will be up to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to decide where the suspects will be tried first.
But a messy debate already has ensued because of differences in the law, especially pertaining to Malvo: In Virginia, which executes more people than any state except Texas, a 17-year-old can be put to death. Under federal and Maryland law, a convicted murderer who was younger than 18 at the time of the crime cannot be executed.
Because six of the homicides occurred in Montgomery County, Md., prosecutors there have been vocal in wanting to go first.
I have a very practical, albeit not particularly morally or legally acceptable, solution. Take both of them to a gas station and tie them to separate posts. Then, give the family members of the victims the opportunity to fire away at them with the .223 Bushmaster used by the snipers. Of course, the punishment would be a great deal more effective if family members just winged each of the suspects initially instead of going for the kill. Why take them out immediately when you can give them a taste of what true suffering really is??
