DOJ seeks death penalty for inmate charged with killing fellow penitentiary prisoner

WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking the death penalty for an inmate charged with killing another prisoner at a penitentiary.

Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado filed, with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s authorization, a notice of intent to pursue the death penalty against Ishmael Petty, who is charged with murdering an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary-Florence, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX), the DOJ announced.

The killing allegedly took place in September of 2020, when Petty and the now-deceased prisoner were kept in the same unit. Petty, who has been in federal custody since a 1998 conviction for bank robbery, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering another inmate in 2002, according to the DOJ.

The department added that he was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2015 for an assault on two officers at ADX.

President Donald Trump restored the death penalty the first day of his second term, ordering the U.S. attorney general to pursue it for “all crimes of a severity demanding its use.” He also directed the official to “appropriately prioritize public safety and the prosecution of violent crime,” noting that capital punishment is an “essential tool” for deterring and punishing people who commit “the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence” against Americans.

“Before, during, and after the founding of the United States, our cities, States, and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes,” Trump’s executive order read. “Our Founders knew well that only capital punishment can bring justice and restore order in response to such evil.”

Trump also criticized the moratorium put on federal executions by former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021. Garland ordered reviews of DOJ protocols and regulations to assess, among other things, the range of execution methods and any pain and suffering felt by prisoners being executed.

“The Department of Justice must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States, but is also treated fairly and humanely,” Garland said. “That obligation has special force in capital cases.”

No federal inmates were executed during the Biden administration.

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