Seeking the death penalty in states that have no death penalty

Factual Questions
1

Hi,

I am interested to know why prosecutors seek the death penalty in states like New York that as far as I know does not have the death penalty. What is the logic behind that? The reason I asked is because I read about such a case in the New York Post a few months ago. I look forward to your feedback.
davidmich

2

Perhaps you’re hearing about a federal prosecution, which has the death penalty as an option, no matter what state you’re in.

3

Yes. You’re right. Thanks.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are seeking the death penalty against a convicted cop killer who was sentenced to death after trial but escaped execution because of a prosecutor’s error…

…New York’s death penalty has been off the books since a Court of Appeals ruling in 2004, but federal prosecutors can seek the execution of defendants convicted of federal crimes. Execution would be by lethal injection.

4

However we seem to have a shortage of the drugs for lethal injection.

5

What exactly was the Federal crime involved in that case?

Murder is a State crime, not a federal one. Only certain classes of people are “protected” against murder in Federal law. (“Protected” in the sense that if such a person is murdered, the murderer is up for federal charges. Although the murderee still stays dead.)

The cops he killed were state cops, not federal cops, (or were they)? Is it a federal crime to murder state cops?

6

If this site is accurate, there are a lot of murders that can result in federal crime charges. For the case the OP mentions, probably specifically first degree murder, murder of law officials, and murder committed during the commission of a drug trafficking crime.

8

Thanks elfkin477. That answers my question.
davidmich

9

Spam post (two above this) reported.

10

As an aside, New York has actually come close to reinstating the death penalty a couple of times recently.

11

Commerce clause.

From the article:

It doesn’t say the offence, but I think the clue is that it was a sting operation to buy illegal guns. It’s probably a federal offence to buy or sell illegal guns in inter-state commerce, and then a federal offence to kill someone in the course of buying or selling illegal guns in inter-state commerce.

So the first trial would have been for murder under state law, and now the federal trial is for killing in the course of buying or selling guns in inter-state commerce.

Just my prediction.

12

Northern Piper is pretty close - the crimes Wilson was charged with by the time of his trial (there were others that were dropped) were “two counts of murder in aid of racketeering, two robbery conspiracy counts, one attempted robbery count, one count of carjacking, two counts of use of a firearm and two counts of causing a death with a firearm.” Whitey Bulger had similar charges for the racketeering, and Dzhokar Tsarnev had similar carjacking and firearm charges for the shooting of MIT police officer Sean Collier and carjacking afterwards. I’m not certain which federal robbery statute he was charged under, I’d have to see the actual indictment. The murder in aid of racketeering charges carry the death penalty, I’d have to look up exactly how he’s charged in the indictment to know the penalty for the others.

13

This is my biggest* gripe about The X-Files. Mulder and Scully are forever arresting people for murder, generally not something it seems the FBI should be arresting people for.

  • Well, aside from the baby. And that we never got to see Scully feeding the baby.
14

Bone’s must really bug you then! (Although, in D.C. proper, the FBI would technically have original jurisdiction.)

15

I don’t watch it. I had a hard enough time accepting David Boreanaz as a vampire. But a human? Can’t get my head around it.