Legally, There is No Such Thing as a Federal Death Penalty

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will seek the death penalty for the suspect in the June 2015 Charleston Church Shootings. Dylann Roof is charged in the South Carolina attack that killed nine people.

“The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this decision,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.

While I personally believe in the death penalty, it is not within the U.S. Constitutional authority of the DOJ.  That power is reserved in this case only to the state in which this crime was committed.