It is uncommon for the Justice Department to seek the death penalty — no one has been executed by the federal government since 1963 — and some analysts saw the decision as part of an effort to crack down on hate crimes.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, favors the death penalty in this case.
“I think the death penalty is an absolutely appropriate punishment for a crime of this nature,” Hier told the Los Angeles Times. “For people who commit acts of terrorism against innocent people at random, the greatest deterrent is knowing that they face the possibility of a death sentence.”
Rabbi David Saperstein, a longtime opponent of the death penalty, disagrees. The director of the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center told the Times that the government move would deflect attention from hate crimes and toward the controversy over capital punishment.
The trial is set to begin Nov. 14.