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Well, That's a Twist
10/24/2002
Apparently, John Muhammad, one of the men arrested in relation to the D.C. sniper investigation, is the former soldier:
The other man, teenage John Lee Malvo, is apparently a Jamaican national. That most likely means that both men fit the only description that police and media reports emphatically denied was possible when the "dark" or "olive" skinned male witness reports came out.
I see three possibilities:
1. Authorities set up these two to take the fall for a struggling investigation. Such a conspiracy seems exceedingly unlikely given the geographic and interdepartmental scope of the investigation. (I only mention it because somebody, somewhere may make this argument... perhaps Johnny Cochran.)
2. The profiles given by all of the experts (could one accuse them of racial profiling?) as well as people's own preconceptions tainted witnesses' perception. If this is the case, perhaps it isn't as safe to use the white male as a fallback profile as media folks seem to believe. In the comment box two posts down from this one, R.W. makes the (probably correct) suggestion that the media et al. are worried about that ever-looming backlash, but no statement in a situation like this will be free of repercussions. Furthermore, I agree with Glenn Reynolds that the people who disseminate information lose credibility — something already in short supply for them — when they condescend to the public in this way.
3. There are still co-conspirators out there. I'm going with this one. Remember: we still have no reports of a gun, and there are still two different suspect vehicles that have yet to be found. So far, Muhammad and Malvo are linked in Tacoma (because Muhammad used the murder weapon for target practice in his backyard there [!!!]) and in Alabama (where Malvo left a fingerprint at the scene of the murder of the woman to whose credit card the supposed sniper tried to have the $10 million transferred), but neither of these facts places either man personally at any of the recent shootings.
Whichever is the case, I'm all for the death penalty for whoever is proven guilty. But let's not rush to it until we're sure that the assault has been thoroughly investigated and all leads followed.
ADDENDUM:
I just noticed this:
At a midnight news conference Wednesday, Moose delivered another message to the sniper, urging him to contact police.
"Our inability to talk has been a concern for us as it has been for you," Moose said. "You have indicated that you want us to do and say certain things. You asked us to say, 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' We understand that hearing us say this is important to you.
"However, we want you to know how difficult it has been to understand what you want because you have chosen to use only notes, indirect messages, and calls to other jurisdictions."
This sounds strikingly like a coded message. In fact, I'm surprised police would comply with such a seemingly pointless request.
Posted by Justin Katz @ 08:49 AM EST
3 comments
Yeah, you probably would want to wait for a trial and conviction before you push for the death penalty... otherwise it becomes more of a lynch penalty.
It would seem at this point that all of these deaths had no "higher" purpose than just a couple of guys trying to make a buck. I'm not going to make any Enron parallels here, but they are bound to be made in the coming weeks.
Victor @ 10/24/2002 10:13 AM EST
Victor,
Of course the necessity of trial goes without saying (I've changed the language to say it more directly; the addendum has also been added since your comment).
But I'd wait before I write this off as a crime for money. Something seems disjointed between the stupidity of thinking that they could get the money in this fashion and the planning and execution of the crimes.
The Enron comment is more than a little off the point, at any rate.
Justin Katz @ 10/24/2002 10:33 AM EST
Duly noted. I'm more inclined to agree with you than I am with my earlier comment...
victor @ 10/24/2002 01:51 PM EST