The Memphis Commercial Appeal posts, "Feds to seek death penalty in murder of Henning postal workers," this afternoon. It's written by Lawrence Buser.
Federal prosecutors said Friday they will seek the death penalty in the case against a former corrections worker charged with killing two postal workers in 2010 in Henning, Tenn.
U.S. Atty. Ed Stanton told U.S. Dist. Judge Jon McCalla in a hearing that prosecutors will ask a jury for the death penalty for defendant Chastain Montgomery if he is convicted as charged of killing the federal employees.
The legal and factual basis for seeking the death penalty is expected to be filed next week.
This would be the first federal death penalty case here in 10 years.
Montgomery, 48, whose attorneys are exploring a mental defense, told authorities he shot postal clerk Paula Robinson and that his son, Chastain Montgomery Jr., shot and killed letter carrier Judy Spray.
"Chastain Montgomery Faces Death Penalty In Alleged Murder Of 2 Tennessee Postal Workers," is the AP report by Adrian Sainz. It's via Huffington Post.
A federal prosecutor told a judge Friday that he will pursue the death penalty against a former prison guard charged with killing two Tennessee postal workers.The defendant, 48-year-old Chastain Montgomery, lowered his head but showed no other reaction when U.S. Attorney Edward Stanton announced the decision during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla.
Executions of federal inmates are rare. Only three men have been executed under the federal death penalty since 1963 – Juan Raul Garza and Timothy McVeigh in June 2001 and Louis Jones Jr. in March 2003.
Federal prosecutors in West Tennessee last sought the death penalty in a 2009 carjacking-murder trial, the U.S. attorney's office said. Shannon Shields was convicted and ended up receiving life in prison that case.
Related posts are in the federal death penalty index.
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