Trump calls for death sentence for murder in Washington, D.C.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to seek death penalty for the suspicious murderer in Washington, D.C.

Trump said at a cabinet meeting at the White House that the death penalty would be a “preventive” measure.

Hundreds of National Guard and federal law enforcement officers have been deployed to the U.S. capital to combat what Trump previously said is “totally impossible” in cities – a strategy he suggests can be repeated in Chicago and other cities.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser rejected the president’s claim on crime, which has fallen in the city since the race in 2023.

“If someone kills someone in the capital Washington, D.C., we will seek the death penalty,” Trump told reporters and cabinet members. “It’s a very powerful preventive measure.”

Most murders in Washington, D.C. are prosecuted under local law, although in theory, prosecutors can seek death penalty for crimes that fall under federal law.

However, the death penalty can only be used with the jury’s consent, posing a potential challenge in cities where most residents oppose the death penalty.

The president has not provided more details on how he will seek to implement the change.

Trump retried the federal death penalty on the first day of January through an executive order.

Under his predecessor, Joe Biden, the Justice Department has issued a moratorium on federal use of the death penalty.

The January executive order signed by Trump describes the death penalty as an “important tool to stop and punish those who will commit the most heinous crimes and deadly violence against American citizens.”

It added: “Before, midway and after the founding of the United States, our cities, states and states have been relying on the death penalty as the ultimate deterrent, the only punishment for the most despicable crimes.”

Most executions in the United States are conducted at the state level, with 27 states, and the military and federal governments still have legal choices.

The death penalty in Washington, D.C. was invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1972 and was repealed by the city council in 1981.

Decades later, in 2002, the city’s residents voted against the death penalty in a Republican-controlled U.S. Congress’ referendum on local votes.

No federal executions have been conducted since Trump returned to office He supervised 13 executions In the decline of the first semester of the end of 2020 and January 2021.

The executions have shattered Trump’s precedent for a 130-year-old moratorium on the executions in more than a century.

The last execution came five days before he left the office in January 2021.

The president’s comments are because about 800 National Guard and hundreds of federal officers are deployed in Washington, D.C., amid crime suppression and homelessness, Mayor Powers pointed to a “huge crime reduction”, which she claimed she was “a 30-year violent crime rate.”

In recent days, Trump has repeatedly proposed the idea of ​​deploying troops to other cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, both run by Democrats.

“I’m willing to go to Chicago,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker accused Trump of “trying to create a crisis.”