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	Photo by Travis Pratt J. Wendell Gordon, stand-by council for John Allen Muhammad in the State of Maryland, met with Muhammad earlier today and said "Muhammad is absolutely unafraid to die."

Virginia Department of Corrections Director of Communications Larry M. Traylor said Muhammad died at 9:11 p.m., five minutes after the IV needles were inserted. Muhammad did not acknowledge state officials when asked if he had a final statement to make.

"He turned his head to the right and closed his eyes," Traylor said.

Jon Burkitt, a media witness from a Richmond CBS affiliate, said a clean-shaven Muhammad, dressed in prison denims and wearing flip-flops, staggered briefly while being brought into the death chamber in shackles, but appeared calm. Dena Potter, of The Associated Press, another of four media witnesses, said Muhammad did not appear to be sedated, but alert and stoic in the death chamber.

After he was strapped to the gurney and the IV had been administered, the curtain between Muhammad and official and family witnesses, who watched from different rooms, was raised at 9:06 p.m. Although official witnesses were visible to Muhammad, family witnesses were not. Potter reported that Muhammad took seven deep breaths. He began twitching at 9:07 p.m.

By 9:08 p.m., Potter said, Muhammad was lying motionless. His body was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Richmond for an official ruling on cause of death.

Afterward, Jon Sheldon, who handled the federal appeals, said Muhammad's attorneys and family "deeply sympathizes with the families and loved ones" who have had to relive the traumatic events of 2002.

"The children of John Muhammad today lost a father and a member of their family," he said.

Muhammad spent at least part of the afternoon visiting with family members, including one of his sons, said attorney J. Wyndal Gordon, who aided his representation in Maryland. Muhammad did not want a spiritual adviser, Traylor said.

Muhammad's last meal was chicken and rice, Gordon said, which he offered to share with Gordon, and a strawberry spiral shortcake.

Traylor said it is up to Muhammad's family to decide what do with his remains.

During a three-week killing spree across Maryland, Virginia and Washington in the fall of 2002, Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, now serving life in prison without parole, terrorized the region, killing 10 people. Muhammad and Malvo are also suspected of murders in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana and Washington state.

Gordon said Muhammad had not had any recent contact with Malvo.

In an impromptu news conference in front of the Greensville Correctional Center hours before Muhammad was set to be executed, Gordon said the convicted sniper told him he "absolutely did not commit these crimes.

"He is absolutely unafraid to die ... he will die with dignity, not on his knees," Gordon said.

Gordon told reporters Muhammad was not insane and was unaffected by the stresses of service in the first Gulf War.

"His condolences go out to the families, but his position is that he is innocent," Gordon said.

Muhammad's court appeals ran out Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to address the case. Gov. Tim Kaine denied clemency Tuesday.

Muhammad's appeals attorneys had asked Kaine to commute his sentence to life in prison because they said he was severely mentally ill -- evidence of which they claim was not heard in court.

"I think crimes that are this horrible, you just can't understand them, you can't explain them," said Kaine, a Democrat and a Roman Catholic known for carefully considering death penalty cases. "They completely dwarf your ability to look into the life of a person who would do something like this and understand why."

Several victims' family members said they planned to witness the execution, including Marion Lewis and his former son-in-law, Nelson Rivera. Lewis' daughter, Lori Lewis-Rivera, 25, a young mother, was killed Oct. 3, 2002, while vacuuming her car at the Shell gas station near her Kensington home.

The Department of Corrections would not release the names of victims' family members who attended.

Sonia Hollingsworth-Wills and her husband, Tyrone Wills, flew in from Dallas for the execution. She was the mother of Montgomery County Ride-On bus operator Conrad Johnson, killed Oct. 22, two days before Muhammad and Malvo's capture in Myersville .

Tyrone Willis said Johnson's wife, Denise, and his sister, Jacqueline, would witness the execution. His mother chose not to, preferring to await news of Muhammad's death from just outside the prison.

"I don't want to have to see that image in mind," Hollingsworth-Wills said. "I miss Conrad every day of my life and this will not bring him back, but at least that demon will not be breathing."

Johnson's family waited with family and friends, including co-workers Nelvin Ransom and Milton Perry.

Perry, the Montgomery County Ride-On supervisor, took the call that Johnson had been shot.

"It's been a long time coming," Hollingsworth-Wills said an hour before Muhammad's execution.

Others who lost family and friends didn't know exactly how to feel about the execution of Muhammad.

Barbara Gaffigan and her husband, Larry, of Silver Spring, lost their longtime housekeeper, Sarah Ramos, 34, the mother of a 7-year-old boy, and one of their closest friends, James D. Martin, 55, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program analyst, in the sniper attacks.

"There are mixed feelings," Barbara Gaffigan said. "To me, spending my entire life in a prison cell would be the most miserable thing ever -- not actually being put to sleep by lethal injection. I would call that the lesser of two evils. However, I know people don't want to have to pay for those scumbags to be kept alive."

Martin, married with an 11-year-old son, was standing in the parking lot of a Wheaton grocery store buying food for his church when he was killed Oct. 2.

Friends of James L. "Sonny" Buchanan, who launched Sonny's Kids Foundation to continue his work with the Montgomery County Boys and Girls Club, said his family did not wish to talk to the media during such a difficult time. Also at the prison, a group of demonstrators against the death penalty turned out at a small rally.

Beth Panilaitis of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said about 15 anti-death penalty vigils had been organized around the state.

"This evening we will be executing a severely mentally ill man, whose illness was worsened by his service in the first Gulf War, a day before Veterans Day," Panilaitis said. "Besides the mental issue, it's important to remember that, yes, the whole community was in fear for a period, but for the last seven years that he has been incarcerated we have been safe. And that incarcerated with life without parole would continue to work."

Darick Lane, 38, of Richmond, brought his 11-year-old son, Desmond, to hold a candle in protest of the execution.

"We don't believe in the death penalty," Lane said. "'Thou shalt not kill' applies to everyone and I am trying to teach my son that as a Christian it's not enough to just sit in the pews on Sunday."

Meanwhile, Darlene Kea, 32, of Jarratt, came out with her 7-year-old son and husband to show support for Muhammad's execution.

"I do feel like these were very selfish acts and the victim's left families behind," she said. "I feel an eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth."