D.C. sniper to die by lethal injection

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By Joseph Weber

The mastermind of the sniper attacks that terrorized Washington-area residents in October 2002 will die by lethal injection next month, a Virginia corrections official said Tuesday.

The state will give convicted killer John Allen Muhammad a lethal injection because he declined to choose between that and electrocution.

"So under the Code of Virginia it defaults to lethal injection," said state Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor.

A prisoner has until 15 days before the execution to decide on which method, according to Virginia law.

Muhammad, 48, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 10 for killing Dean Harold Meyers in October 2002 at a gas station in Manassas, Va., about 30 miles southwest of Washington.

Muhammad and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo fatally shot 10 people in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia during their three-week rampage.

They also were suspected of shootings in Alabama, Louisiana and several other states.

Malvo, now 24, is serving a life sentence in a Virginia prison.

Muhammad's lawyers earlier this month asked Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for clemency and plan to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court early next month.