Man Killed 3 US Muslims Can Be Executed

A US man, who shot dead three American Muslim students in February, is eligible to receive the death penalty trial, a judge ruled.

Craig Stephen Hicks was charged with first-degree murder in the killing 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 on February 10 in an apartment near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

During a brief hearing on Monday, the evidence against Hicks, 46, was disclosed and Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson Jr. ruled that he was "death penalty qualified."

The weapon which Hicks was arrested with matched the shell casings recovered at the apartment based on ballistics, said Durham County Assistant District Attorney Jim Dornfried.

Police found gunshot residue on his hands and blood from one of the victim's on his pants, prosecutors said.

The victims' families strongly believed that they were targeted due to the fact that they were Muslims. They had demanded for hate-crime charges to be leveled against Hicks.

A lawyer for the family members said that "the family is just enormously sad and confused."
Joe Cheshire said, "They are overwhelmed with grief. ... You can't find a person who would say something bad about those three young people."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team