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D.C. Sniper John Allen Muhammad Executed

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Nov 11, 2009 10:30 am US/Eastern

D.C. Sniper John Allen Muhammad Executed

Convicted Killer Known As 'Beltway Sniper' Set For Lethal Injection For Shooting Spree That Killed 10 People

 CBS News Interactive: Capital Punishment

JARRATT, Va. (CBS) ― John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind the sniper attacks that left 10 dead, was executed Tuesday night as relatives of the victims watched, reliving the killing spree that terrorized the Washington metro area for three weeks in October 2002.

He looked calm and stoic, but was twitching and blinking as the injections began, defiant to the end, refusing to utter any final words. Victims' families sat behind glass while watching the execution, separated from the rest of the 27 witnesses.

"He died very peacefully, much more than most of his victims," said Prince William County prosecutor Paul Ebert.

Muhammad, dressed in a blue shirt, jeans and flip-flops, had no final statement.

According to prison official Larry Taylor, Muhammad, 48, appeared calm. Taylor said he didn't hear Muhammad speak at all during the entire procedure.

Traylor said a telephone line to the Governor's office was open the entire time and that when the prison warden asked whether there was any reason to halt the execution, was told there was no reason not to proceed, according to CBS affiliate WTVR-TV in Richmond.

He was declared dead at 9:11 p.m. ET.

Muhammad was executed for killing Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot in the head at a Manassas gas station during the three-week spree across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Nelson Rivera, whose wife, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, was gunned down as she vacuumed her van at a Maryland gas station said when he watched Muhammad's chest moving for the last time, he was glad.

"I feel better. I think I can breathe better and I'm happy he's gone. Because he's not going to hurt anyone else," he said.

Dean's brother, Bob Meyers, said watching the execution was a point of closure but that he was "overcome by the sadness that the whole situation generates in my heart."

"Honestly it was surreal watching the life being sapped out of somebody intentionally was very different," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

J. Wyndal Gordon, one of Muhammad's attorneys, described his client in his final hours as fearless and still insisting he was innocent.

"He will die with dignity — dignity to the point of defiance," Gordon said.

The shootings terrorized the region, as victim after victim was shot down while doing everyday chores: going shopping, pumping gas, mowing the lawn. One child was shot while walking into his middle school.

People stayed indoors. Those who did go outside weaved as they walked or bobbed their heads to make themselves a less easy target.

The campaign of terror ended on Oct. 24, 2002, when police captured Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, as they slept at a Maryland rest stop in a car they had outfitted for a shooter to perch in its trunk without being detected. Malvo is serving a life prison term.

They also were suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana, Alabama and Arizona.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Muhammad's final appeal Monday and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine denied clemency Tuesday.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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