Prosecutors want death penalty for killer of 3 Muslim students

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Craig Stephen Hicks, the main suspect in the murder of three Muslim students in a Chapel Hill, N.C., apartment complex.

46-yr-old Hicks had turned himself to the police on Feb. 10 less than an hour after the
bodies of 21-yr-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, her husband, 23-yr-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, and her sister, 19-yr-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha were found.

Reports say Roger Echols, the Durham County district attorney, notified Judge Orlando F. Hudson on Wednesday of his intention to seek capital punishment, according to a document filed with the Superior Court.

A hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a death-penalty case was scheduled for Monday.

That hearing was postponed because of a scheduling conflict in the district attorney’s office, said the office’s administrative assistant, Candy Clark. A new date has not been set, but is expected in early April.

The killings occurred about two miles from the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where Mr. Barakat was studying dentistry. His wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, was planning to enroll there in the fall. Razan Abu-Salha was a sophomore at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Mr. Hicks lived on the other side of the same apartment building as Mr. Barakat and the older Ms. Abu-Salha, who had been married for just over a month.

Mr. Hicks has confessed to murder, but the police will not say if he offered more details or a motive, said Lt. Joshua Mecimore, spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department. The police executing a search warrant found 12 firearms, including four pistols and a Bushmaster AR-15, in the apartment Mr. Hicks shared with his wife.

NY Times reports that federal prosecutors, the FBI and the local authorities are searching for evidence to determine whether the triple homicide was a hate crime targeting the three Muslim students. But such a finding is not necessary to seek the death penalty. Mr. Hicks’s wife, Karen Haggerty Hicks, described the shootings as a result of a dispute over parking.

The killings occurred about two miles from the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where Mr. Barakat was studying dentistry. His wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, was planning to enroll there in the fall. Razan Abu-Salha was a sophomore at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Mr. Hicks lived on the other side of the same apartment building as Mr. Barakat and the older Ms. Abu-Salha, who had been married for just over a month.

Also on Monday, the police released warrants to search Hicks’s computer files, Facebook page and phones, as well as the victims’ phones for evidence.

Mr. Hicks frequently used his Facebook page to criticize religion. On Jan. 20, he posted a picture of what he said was a loaded .38 revolver and speed loader.