From now on, Trump wants “capital penalty” in the capital
United States President Donald Trump said his administration will ask for the death penalty in all cases of murder in Washington, DC, a measure that may come across significant obstacles with the city’s juries.
“If someone murder someone in the capital, capital penalty, capital, capital penalty. If someone kills someone in the capital, Washington, DC, we will ask for the death penalty,” the president said during a meeting with members of the cabinet during Tuesday.
The US President immediately did not present any details, but considered the capital penalty a “very strong preventive” measure. States continued, “will have to make their own decisions,” although in the capital of the country, prosecutors ask the death penalty.
“We have no choice,” he reiterated.
Traditionally, the Superior Court of DC deals with most cases of homicide in the city, and would be linked to the city code that does not authorize capital penalty.
However, the US Attorney’s Office in DC, which judges crimes at both the local court and the city’s Federal Court – unlike any other jurisdiction in the country – may submit federal accusations in many cases eligible for capital penalty and request the death penalty.
“We will appeal to all the legal sanctions and sentences provided for by the law,” said attorney Jeanine Pirro at a press conference when asked about the fact that her office seeks to obtain capital penalty in CD cases.
However, getting a death sentence may not be so easy, as prosecutors will have to convince jurors to approve the sentence. Historically, prosecutors have faced challenges to convince special juries to impose capital penalty in Washington, DC, even though they vote unanimously for the conviction of the defendants, several people from the capital’s legal community have said in recent weeks.
“It will be difficult to find 12 people in Washington, dc to do so,” said Jon Jeffress, a former federal public defender who has become a private defense lawyer in the city.
The Federal Court of Columbia District has not made a death penalty trial since 2003, when Rodney L. Moore was convicted of 10 murders and Kevin L. Gray was convicted of 19 murders, according to several people familiar with the court and with this case. In this case, the jurors said they could not reach a unanimous deal about the death penalty for both men instead of life imprisonment, according to the court’s records.
Asked about the reluctance of the juries to approve the death penalty in cases of DC, Pirro said: “Let’s follow the law, the deliberative process, to present the evidence … whether DC is inclined to do so or not, it is not a political issue.”
“This is a question sanctioned by the law and that gives us the power to do so. If we are not, then who will it be?” He added.
In recent months, the Justice Department has indicated, in at least three cases at the Washington Federal Court, DC, which may request the death penalty, according to the court’s records.
One of these processes is against Elias Rodriguez, accused of having fired on two employees of the Israeli embassy who left a Jewish community event in May.
The Justice Department is also actively considering the possibility of requesting the death penalty in the DC District Court for two Mexican citizens who were accused in 2008 in a case of gangs and recently brought to the US, and to two young people who were accused of car theft in 2023, according to court records.
This decision arises at a time when the federal death corridor is reduced to three after President Joe Biden switched on the penalties of about three dozen federal prisoners who had been sentenced to death. Trump promised, from the first day of its administration, to restore the application of capital penalty in the US, giving instructions to the Attorney General to apply the death penalty whenever possible.
