Federal officials announced Tuesday that the Justice Department won’t pursue the death penalty against the suspected ringleader of the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
The AP reports:
The Justice Department will not seek the death penalty against Ahmed Abu Khattala, the suspected Libyan militant charged in the Benghazi attacks that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, federal officials announced Tuesday. The department revealed its decision, which pushes the case forward toward trial, in a brief court filing that offered no additional explanation. In a separate statement, spokeswoman Emily Pierce said Attorney General Loretta Lynch made the decision after reviewing the case and consulting with federal prosecutors. She said the department is “committed to ensuring that the defendant is held accountable” for the 2012 attacks.
If convicted, the maximum sentence for Khattala would be life imprisonment.
The last federal defendant to be put to death was in 2003, the AP adds, although a federal jury sentenced the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death last year.
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