From [HERE] and [MORE] The psychopathic white man charged with killing three Muslim college students will face a death penalty trial after prosecutors told a judge they had strong and incriminating evidence that includes the blood from one of the victims found on the accused shooter's pants.
After a brief hearing Monday, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson Jr. ruled that Craig Stephen Hicks is "death penalty qualified."
Hicks, who remained handcuffed throughout the court proceedings, showed no visible emotion as the judge announced his decision. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Feb. 10 killings of 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat; his wife, 21-year-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha; and her sister, 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.
Durham County Assistant District Attorney Jim Dornfried said at the preliminary hearing that Hicks was taken into custody while in possession of a .357-caliber handgun that ballistics testing had matched to the eight shell casings recovered at the victims' apartment. There was also gunshot residue on Hicks' hands. Prosecutors often use the possibility of death to negotiate pleas that avoid the cost, time and emotional strain of a trial.
White Media & Cops Focus on "Parking Dispute" [nothing racial here] White police officers have said Hicks, 46, appeared to have been motivated by a long-running dispute over parking spaces at the condominium complex near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he lived in the same building as dental student Barakat and his wife. Dornfried said Monday that Hicks had revealed details about the killings while under questioning by investigators.
"There were certain issues he described involving parking," Dornfried told the judge. "He went and retrieved a firearm from his residence, then proceeded over to the residence of the victims. ... The door was answered by Deah Barakat. There was a brief interaction, at which time the defendant pulled out his concealed firearm." Parking? Right. Sounds like bullshit doesn't it?
The New York Times reported in February that photos taken the day after the shootings showed that none of the cars that Barakat, his wife or her sister used was parked in Hicks’ assigned space.
Federal investigators are conducting an inquiry into whether case evidence supports federal hate-crime charges, which are very specific and difficult to prove. In such cases, where religious bias is alleged, the religion of the victims must be the predominant motivating factor for the crimes for a successful prosecution, legal scholars say. Religous? Do you think he would have done this to some white Muslim folks?
Dornfried said Hicks shot Barakat multiple times, then entered the apartment and shot each of the screaming women in the head. He then pumped another slug into Barakat as he left the apartment, the prosecutor said.
After prosecutors asked the judge to approve the death penalty, defense lawyer Terry Alford declined to speak.
The FBI is conducting what it has called a "parallel preliminary inquiry" to the homicide investigation to determine whether any federal laws were violated, including hate crime statutes.
Durham District Attorney Roger Echols said after the hearing that he does not anticipate filing additional state charges against Hicks, but that his office is cooperating with the federal inquiry.
"If it is appropriate for the U.S. government to bring (additional) charges, we support that," Echols said.
To support the death penalty under North Carolina law, prosecutors must show Hicks' alleged crimes had aggravating factors — in this case that one of the murders was committed during a second murder, and that there was an act of violence committed with a second act of violence.
Search warrants listed a dozen firearms recovered from the condo unit Hicks shared with his wife, in addition to the handgun he had with him when he turned himself in after the shootings.