Montgomery County’s top prosecutor says his office will consider whether to pursue the death penalty against a man charged with killing a Germantown woman and suspected in the death of her son.
State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Wednesday that “it is far too early” to say whether capital punishment is warranted for Curtis M. Lopez. Lopez, 45, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of his wife, Jane McQuain.
He is also suspected of killing 11-year-old William McQuain — Jane McQuain’s son and Lopez’s step-son — whose body was found in a wooded area in Clarksburg on Tuesday.
The death penalty is “something that I think has to be considered” in the case, McCarthy said.
He said his office will have to determine whether the case has the aggravating factors that it would make Lopez eligible for execution under Maryland law. Those factors include: if the murder was committed during certain felonies, if the perpetrator tried to kill more than one person at once, if the victim was killed for financial gain, if the victim was a public safety official and if the victim was someone who was being held as a hostage.
Lopez is still in custody in North Carolina, where he was apprehended last week. Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said he would need to be extradited to Maryland within two weeks.
Jane McQuain was found beaten and stabbed to death in her apartment on the 13100 block of Briarcliff Terrace on Oct. 12.
An autopsy is under way to determine the cause of William’s death. Lopez has not been charged in his death.
