Reuters posts, "US prosecutors to seek death penalty in Rhode Island shooting," by Zach Howard. It's via the Chicago Tribune.
The U.S. federal government will seek the death penalty against a man accused of robbing and killing a gas station manager in Rhode Island if the suspect is convicted of murder at trial, federal prosecutors said on Monday.
The move follows a rare face-off between the state and federal authorities over capital punishment, which was ended in Rhode Island in 1984. The state's governor has resisted handing the suspect, Jason Pleau, over to federal custody.
Pleau, 34, is accused in the 2010 shooting death of David Main in the small city of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, according to the FBI, as Main attempted to make a bank deposit from the gas station he managed.
Pleau was indicted that same year by a federal grand jury for murder, while he was already serving an 18-year sentence in state prison for parole violations. The federal government asked for custody of Pleau under a federal law that governs the transfer of prisoners between states and the U.S. government.
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, a political independent, initially resisted, asserting the state's policy of opposing the death penalty. But a federal appeals court in Boston last month ordered him to hand Pleau over to federal authorities.
Prosecutors filed Monday's notice of intent to seek the death sentence at U.S. District Court in Providence, specifically on a count charging Pleau with possessing, carrying and discharging a firearm during a crime that caused Main's death.
The Woonsocket Call carries, "Feds seek death for Pleau," by Jim Baron of the Pawtucket Times.
After winning a months-long tug-of-war with Gov. Lincoln Chafee to gain custody of Jason Wayne Pleau, U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha announced Monday that he intends to seek the death penalty against Pleau for allegedly murdering David Main of Lincoln outside a Woonsocket bank in September, 2010.
And:
A U.S. District Court judge ordered Pleau to be handed over to federal authorities, but Chafee appealed that decision before a panel of First District Appeals Court judges and won a 2-1 decision. After that, however the full complement of appeals court judges overturned that ruling on a 3-2 vote and federal authorities took custody of Pleau, who was at that time at the ACI serving out the remainder of an 18-year sentence because the robbery and murder charges violated his parole.
Chafee has commissioned a Washington DC-based law firm, working for no fee, to pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer last month refused a request to stay the appeals court decision pending action in the high court.
Chafee issued a statement Monday that said, “I always knew that it was possible the federal government would seek the death penalty in this matter and for that reason, I opposed the transfer of Jason Pleau to federal custody.
Earlier coverage of the Pleau case and the federal-state dispute begins at the link.
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