Death penalty still an option

Federal authorities will still seek the death penalty for one of the men charged with killing former Student Body President Eve Carson despite a request to reconsider.

The U.S. Attorney General’s office decided in January to allow federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty for Demario James Atwater. But after a new attorney general was appointed, Atwater’s federal defense attorneys asked him to reconsider.

The original authorization came from Michael Mukasey, an attorney general appointed by former President George W. Bush. After President Barack Obama took office, a new attorney general, Eric Holder, was appointed. But he would not reconsider Mukasey’s decision.

Atwater’s federal defense attorney, Greg Davis, said he drafted the request and sent it to a committee within the U.S. Department of Justice that reviews potential death penalty cases. He would not comment about when or why his office filed the request.

The request is not a public record, said Lynne Klauer, spokeswoman for the U.S. District Attorney’s office in the middle district of North Carolina, which is prosecuting Atwater.

“That process is not something that goes through court,” she said.

Atwater, 23, will face the possibility of a death sentence in both state and federal trials.

Authorities say he and Lawrence Alvin Lovette, 18, kidnapped Carson early March 5, drove her to withdraw $1,400 from her bank account, and then shot her just off East Franklin Street.

Lovette, who has not been indicted on federal charges, cannot be sentenced to death because he was 17 at the time of the crime.



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.