Jeff Sessions authorizes death penalty against gang member accused of killing rivals

Jeff Sessions.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions indicated that the Justice Department would be more aggressive in pursuing the death penalty under President Trump than under former President Barack Obama by authorizing federal prosecutors to seek capital punishment against Billy Arnold, who is accused of killing two rival gang members in Detroit, The Wall Street Journal reports. Michigan banned the death penalty at a state level in 1847, although it can still be sought at a federal level, the Detroit Free Press writes. Former Justice Department officials said the gang-on-gang violence case likely wouldn't have been authorized for capital punishment under Obama, who oversaw just two death-penalty gang cases while in office.

The decision regarding Arnold, who has pleaded not guilty, follows Sessions' first death-penalty authorization in December, in a case involving a Tennessee man who abducted and murdered his wife. The Justice Department is poised to potentially make three more authorizations soon, against the man accused of killing eight people in Manhattan by driving a truck into a bike lane and against two members of the MS-13 gang accused of killing two teenage girls on Long Island.

Just 2 percent of death-penalty cases end up being sentenced in federal court, The Wall Street Journal notes. The Obama administration ultimately sought the death penalty in an estimated four dozen cases, with former Attorney General Eric Holder personally opposing capital punishment and his successor, Loretta Lynch, deeming it an "effective penalty."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A recent federal review of execution drugs also slowed down the use of the death penalty. Since 1963, just three federal defendants have been executed. Across the country, support for capital punishment has fallen to a 45-year low of just 55 percent of Americans considering it a favored punishment for convicted murderers.

Read more about how the Trump administration is pursuing the death penalty at The Wall Street Journal.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.