Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered federal prosecutors not to seek the death penalty against three members of a Brooklyn drug crew charged with a killing in which the victim was tortured, the Daily News has learned.
The decision was disclosed Thursday in a one-sentence letter to Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block several hours after Holder announced he was resigning after nearly six years as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
The defendants — Christian John, Marvin Johnson and Shaquan Jones — are described in a federal racketeering indictment as being members of The Hull St. Crew, which wreaked havoc in East New York, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
John, 31, is accused of killing six people, and Johnson, 30, with four. Both also are members of the Bloods gang, court papers say. Jones, 31, is accused of one killing. Their trial is to start Oct. 22.
Christian John (pictured), 31, along with Marvin Johnson and Shaquan Jones are described in a federal racketeering indictment as being members of The Hull St. Crew.
All three are charged with the sadistic murder of Earle Obermuller on Nov. 27, 2006. In the basement of a brownstone on Madison St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where Johnson peddled crack and marijuana, they completely bound Obermuller’s face, legs and arms with duct tape and watched him suffocate to death, according to court papers.
“Obermuller was found tied to a chair and severely burned on a bed of charcoals,” FBI special agent Scott Byers stated in the complaint.
All death-penalty-eligible federal cases are reviewed by the U.S. attorney general’s committee on capital crimes. The attorney general makes the final decision, and the reasons behind it are confidential.
APHolder decided that accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev deserves to be executed by lethal injection if he’s convicted of the terrorist attack that killed three people and wounded more than 200 others in 2013.
Holder has done so sparingly. He decided that accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev deserves to be executed by lethal injection if he’s convicted of the terrorist attack that killed three people and wounded more than 200 others in 2013.
Holder also has indicated that he would have sought the death penalty against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed if he were to be tried in a federal courtroom. But Holder has authorized the death penalty in only 36 cases from 2009 to 2013 and decided against it in more than 1,000 other cases, Politico reported.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Holder also has indicated that he would have sought the death penalty against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed if he were to be tried in a federal courtroom.
John and Jones, 31, are also charged with the April 6, 2011, murders of Jason Bostic and Aaron Formey in the basement of a Bed-Stuy apartment. The victims were also tied with duct tape, tortured and shot multiple times. The defendants allegedly purchased a Range Rover with the proceeds of the drug ripoff.
“Given the young age of the defendants, I think it was the right decision,” said John’s lawyer, Susan Kellman. “Death is so final and never appropriate.”
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