Sniper’s lawyers ask U.S. Supreme Court to halt execution

Lawyers for John Allen Muhammad filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court this week and asked the justices to stop his execution set for Tuesday.

The appeal contends Muhammad’s trial lawyers failed to perform up to constitutionally acceptable standards when, aware he had mental health problems, they did not try and stop their client from representing himself at his 2003 trial.

They had a duty to at least request a competency evaluation of Muhammad be conducted even if Muhammad objected, the appeal argues.

Muhammad, 48, led a series of sniper attacks in 2002 in Virginia, Maryland and Washington that left 10 dead and three wounded. A spokesman for the Virginia attorney general’s office declined to comment on the appeal, saying a response brief will be filed soon.

Muhammad was sentenced to die for the Oct. 9, 2002, slaying of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, shot to death at a Manassas-area service station. His accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, a juvenile at the time of the shootings, is serving four life terms.