After a month-long, terror-inducing sniper spree throughout Maryland and Virginia in October, state and federal officials are ready to try John Muhammad and John Lee Malvo. They are prepared to move the trial to the state with the greatest possible punishment, even as more and more evidence of wrongdoing pours in from law enforcement officials in Georgia and Alabama. But despite the fear and hysteria Muhammad and Malvo caused, Washington, D.C. area government officials should be slow and methodical in deciding where they should be prosecuted and avoid jumping to conclusions about how best to punish them.
Federal officials dropped charges on the two killers early yesterday, according to The Washington Post. United States Attorney General John Ashcroft also said Muhammad and Malvo would be charged in Virginia, the state that he said ‘offers the best law, best facts and best range of available penalties,’ according to The Post. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials near Atlanta found evidence to tie the two killers to yet another killing, according to the Associated Press.
There are several problems with Ashcroft and other federal officials’ actions yesterday. First, as shown by the new evidence from Georgia, Muhammad and Malvo likely committed many more killings and other crimes than law enforcement currently know about. State and federal officials should wait until they are confident they have found all of the crimes committed by Muhammad and Malvo to jump to conclusions about where and when to prosecute. Though eager to bring the killers to justice, they should put prudence before emotion and avoid jumping to conclusions about where, when and how they will be punished.
Federal officials should also avoid getting over-involved in deciding where Muhammad and Malvo are tried. Because of Maryland’s death penalty moratorium, Ashcroft said the trial will be conducted in Virginia, where the state’s laws offer the greatest likelihood of capital punishment for not only Muhammad, but 17-year-old Malvo as well. Though fear permeated throughout the region during Muhammad and Malvo’s rampage, federal officials should allow Maryland to prosecute the killers if it wants to. The two killers caused the most initial terror in Montgomery County when they killed five people in one day. And Maryland should have the right to seek justice because it is where they should logically be brought to trial.
Whether or not the death penalty should be used at all in this case is, as always, debatable, especially because one of the accused is still legally a minor. Though the two killers induced widespread fear throughout the region, the death penalty may not be an appropriate punishment for both of them that decision is for jurors, not the federal government.
If found guilty, John Muhammad and John Lee Malvo deserve to be brought to justice. But national hysteria should not cloud that justice.
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