Send snipers to death

If convicted of the 10 sniper murders in Maryland and Virginia between Oct. 2-22 and slaying a woman in Montgomery, Ala. on Sept. 21, John Allen Williams and Lee Malvo must die.\nAmericans believe they have the right to live as they wish, within the law, without interference from others or the government. The belief is more than 22 decades old and written in a contract called the Constitution, which includes a Bill of Rights. It was written to guarantee freedoms including "life, liberty," and "the equal protection of the laws," as outlined in the 14th Amendment.\nBut if people don't recognize the Constitution as legitimate, thereby neglecting the contract it creates between the government and its citizens, then the Constitution (and its state counterparts that draw their direction and boundaries from it) has no purpose.\nThe snipers abide by their own law that, if written, would allow anyone, at any time, to kill anyone else. The crimes they committed are heinous and extreme, so let our rationale supporting the death penalty be derived from an extreme. Let's assume the snipers murdered only Linda Franklin (killed in front of her husband on Oct. 14 in a Home Depot parking lot in Falls Church, Va.) instead of all 11 people whose deaths with which Williams and Malvo are charged.\nIn carrying out one pre-meditated murder, they forfeited some of their rights and more importantly, many of the duties society once owed them. Many argue life in jail is an acceptable punishment for pre-meditated murder. Franklin's husband, and everyone else angry about her untimely death, will be happy to know the murderers are jailed for the rest of their lives, the argument goes. But this addresses only half of the issue.\nThe proper penalty for knowingly and willingly killing others who don't want to die must also be determined. By proscribing death for Franklin, the snipers brought death upon themselves. The federal government recommends the death penalty for first-degree murder (18 U.S.C. 1111). So do Alabama, Maryland and Virginia.\nThe snipers forfeited their right to live by mocking the most sacred protection in America's great contract --life. The just punishment is death.