The U.S. Justice Department announced plans to seek the death penalty against one of 11 people charged in the MS-13 gang-related stabbing deaths of two teens in Fairfax County during the summer of 2016.
In a court filing on Friday, federal prosecutors said they intend to seek the death sentence against 27-year-old Elmer Zelaya Martinez.
Martinez, according to prosecutors, played a role in the 鈥減lanning and premeditation鈥� of the murders of both a 17-year-old boy in August and a 14-year-old boy in September 2016. Both victims were lured into Holmes Run Park where they were attacked, murdered and left in shallow graves, according to court records.
Martinez鈥檚 defense attorney Robert Jenkins said he is not surprised by the move and sees it as politically motivated.
鈥淲e are greatly disappointed because, from our perspective, it appears as though that politics has infiltrated this case,鈥� said Jenkins.
Martinez, who was known in the gang by the nickname 鈥渒iller,鈥� is a native of El Salvador, the country from which the gang is based. President Donald Trump has called the MS-13 gang a threat to America, regarding its existence in the U.S. as a result of a broken immigration system.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued detainers for all 11 suspects in the case, including Martinez, an ICE spokeswoman told 海角精品黑料.
鈥淥ur client鈥檚 background in certain aspects about this case fits pretty nicely into the current administration’s view on immigration,鈥� said attorney Robert Jenkins, who represented Martinez.
The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.
An indictment in Martinez鈥檚 case claims the 17-year-old was killed because he was thought to be a member of a rival gang which was trying to infiltrate Martinez鈥檚 MS-13 clique. The 14-year-old boy was killed, according to prosecutors because the gang believed he was cooperating with police.
Prosecutors said Martinez directed many of the other accused members during the murders and showed a 鈥渓ack of remorse for his violent acts.鈥�
In its motion to seek a death sentence, the Justice Department claims Martinez showed a 鈥減attern of violence, and threats of violence鈥� and poses 鈥渇uture danger鈥� because he could try to hurt or direct others to hurt witnesses, prison guards and others involved in the case against him.
The prosecution said proof of this is Martinez being caught twice in possession of shanks or makeshift knives, while behind bars ahead of his trial.
Jenkins took issue with what he called 鈥渦ncharged and unadjudicated鈥� offenses prosecutors alleged in the filing. He also called the allegation about his client being caught with a shanks on two occasions 鈥渘ew information to me鈥� and that the filing is the first time the defense has heard about it.
Jenkins wouldn鈥檛 discuss the defense team鈥檚 strategy in the case but said some of the allegations made about his client鈥檚 role in the gang and the murders are 鈥渇actually not true.鈥�
鈥淲e are really hopeful that when all the facts come out, that a jury that can see through the politics that are being leveraged here, that Mr. Martinez will be spared a death sentence,鈥� Jenkins said.
Attorney General William Barr announced last summer after a 16-year hiatus, federal executions would resume. Some inmates challenged the move, and a federal judge temporarily blocked the restart.
The case went to the Supreme Court, which denied a request from the government to overturn the lower court鈥檚 decision.
