Free John Muhammad

One of the most contentious exchanges at last Saturday's gubernatorial debate concerned Tim Kaine's opposition to the death penalty, specifically as it related to gang-related assassinations. Jerry Kilgore pointed out the law says the governor can commute death sentences for virtually no reason at all. He asked if Tim Kaine would take advantage of that power to follow his personal convictions against the death penalty.

Now, Salt Lick is not smart about such things, but doesn’t the War on Terrorism also bear mentioning here? Remember a fellow named John Muhammad, the D.C. sniper? He was convicted and sentenced to death by a Virginia jury. I presume this means he will be executed in a Virginia prison.

Would Tim Kaine be opposed to Muhammad's execution? And I'm not just talking about whether, if Kaine becomes governor, he'd commute Muhammad's sentence to life. What I want to know is if Kaine opposes the death penalty for the types of baby-killer terrorists we see routinely on our televisions. Does Kaine consider their lives "sacred?" Or will Kaine, like John Kerry, decide to make a death penalty exception for terrorists as the election, and the war, continues?

I'd like to know. Because I don't want someone like John Muhammad spending the rest of his life suffering in our inhumane Gitmo-like prisons. That's cruel. Almost like a persistent vegetative state.