Feds won't seek death in Aryan Brotherhood case

Eight men accused of plotting or carrying out murders for the Aryan Brotherhood still face life in prison, but they've been spared the chance of facing lethal injection or the electric chair.

In court filings this week, federal prosecutors in the U.S. Eastern District of California announced they won't seek death against co-defendants Kenneth Johnson, Francis Clement, Justin Gray, Brandon Bannick, James Field, Evan Perkins, Jayson Weaver or Waylon Pitchford. The eight, all on pretrial detention in the Fresno County Jail, are charged with gang crimes related to the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, and each man faces at least one murder charge.

The decision follows a similar ruling in Sacramento, where the same branch of the U.S. Department of Justice is prosecuting other alleged Aryan Brotherhood members in a case involving five slayings and four alleged murder plots. Jury selection has been going on throughout the week, and a federal judge recently informed prospective jurors — over a defense objection — that the three aren't facing death, court records show.

In the Sacramento case, federal prosecutors weighed a possible death penalty for more than three years before ultimately deciding against it. In the Fresno case, the decision was reached less than a year after prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging eight alleged gang associates and members with death penalty-eligible offenses, and several others with lesser crimes.

The Fresno case involves two separate double homicides in Southern California, including two prison stabbings. One of the prison homicides, the 2015 killing of Hugo “Yogi” Pinell at a Sacramento prison, allegedly was ordered by gang leaders and carried out by Weaver and Pitchford.

In both cases, prosecutors indicated it was possible they'd seek the death penalty, despite President Joe Biden's voiced opposition to the death penalty during the 2020 campaign.