DC sniper asks Supreme Court to block execution

In a Tuesday Nov. 18, 2003 file photo, convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad is escorted into the Virginia Beach Circuit Court in Virginia Beach, Va.

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Story Published: Nov 3, 2009 at 4:00 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 3, 2009 at 4:00 PM MST

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorneys for sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad are asking the Supreme Court to stop his execution next week.

The 48-year-old Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 10 at a Virginia prison.

In court papers filed Tuesday, Muhammad's attorneys say the execution should be put off while the court considers whether his trial lawyer was ineffective.

Muhammad is to be executed for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas, Va., gas station during a three-week killing spree in October 2002 that left 10 dead in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were also suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana and Alabama. Malvo is serving a life sentence in prison.

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