ALBANY, N.Y. – Federal authorities have decided against seeking the death penalty for the upstate New York man who cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet, then raped a 10-year-old girl and killed her mother last year.
U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian says the Justice Department has declined to authorize a death penalty prosecution on carjacking charges against David Renz.
He now faces life in prison at sentencing Friday in state court.
Renz admitted he carjacked the two on March 14, 2013, in suburban Syracuse, stabbing and strangling the mother as she tried to stop him from raping her 10-year-old daughter. He had been under federal monitoring on child pornography charges.
Renz pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and sexual assault against a child, which could have been withdrawn if federal authorities sought the death penalty.
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