A district attorney in North Carolina will seek the death penalty against Craig Stephen Hicks, the 46-year-old man accused of murdering three Muslim college students last month.
The office of Durham County district attorney Roger Echols has filed a petition to seek the death penalty against Hicks, Candy Clark, an administrative assistant to the district attorney, confirmed on Monday.
Authorities say Hicks killed Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, in a condominium near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. Chapel Hill police have said their initial investigation indicated that Hicks was motivated by a simmering parking dispute, though family and friends of the victims suspect the killings were motivated by the victims’ religion.
Police have said they will investigate whether the victims’ religion or ethnicity played a role in the killings. The FBI is conducting a parallel preliminary inquiry, and has not yet ruled out the possibility that this was a hate crime.
Following the attack, Hicks turned himself in. He has been charged with murder and is being held without bail. He is next due in court on Wednesday.
After a series of lawsuits by inmates alleging cruel and unusual punishment, North Carolina has not carried out an execution since 2006. In 2013 the state adopted a new single-drug protocol for executions after a European boycott led to a shortage of its previous execution drugs.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 162 prisoners are on death row in North Carolina. Three were sentenced last year.
A hearing to determine whether the state can seek the death penalty will be held during the week of 6 April, Clark said.
