WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors filed a 20-count complaint in Greenbelt, Md., on Tuesday against the adult suspect in the Washington-area sniper shootings.
Some of the charges against John Allen Muhammad, 41 — discharging a firearm as part of an extortion scheme in the deaths of seven people in Maryland — make him eligible for the death penalty.
The complaint in U.S. District Court did not name the other suspect, John Lee Malvo, 17. A juvenile can be charged with a federal capital offense but cannot be executed.
Officials are barred from discussing any charges against a juvenile and any charges would likely be brought under seal.
After the announcement of Tuesday’s filing, Attorney General John Ashcroft said: “There are already people who are saying that they don’t think the ultimate penalties ought to be available, whether they are editorialists or others who don’t believe in the death penalty.
“I believe that the ultimate sanction ought to be available here.”
The action followed the filing of murder charges by prosecutors in Virginia on Monday against the two suspects, which came as law enforcement officials in suburban Maryland, the area with the most victims, conceded that they would most likely lose control of the case.
Muhammad, an Army veteran, and Malvo now face charges in six jurisdictions in the sniper attacks that claimed 10 lives in the Washington area. Since the two were arrested on Oct. 24, one question has been which jurisdiction would try them first.
A Justice Department official said federal prosecutors would be able to build the strongest case by stringing together all the shootings in one trial.
Federal prosecutors charged Muhammad with violating the anti-extortion Hobbs Act,
alleging that he tried to extract a $10 million ransom in exchange for ending the killings.