The U.S. Department of Justice seeks the ultimate punishment in the case of a federal inmate who has been indicted on charges of first-degree murder. Ishmael Petty, 56, already serving a life sentence for a previous murder, is accused of killing a fellow inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary-Florence, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Colorado, according to court documents. A notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Petty has been filed by the United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, following authorization from Attorney General Bondi. This was announced by Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado.
The FBI Denver Field Office conducted the investigation leading to the two-count indictment, delivered this week against Petty, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice. Petty, who has been in federal custody since a 1998 conviction for bank robbery, was previously sentenced in 2002 to life in prison for another murder committed while incarcerated. In 2015, the federal prisoner received a consecutive 60-year term for assaulting two federal officers at ADX.
Despite the severe charges, it is essential to note that an indictment is not a conviction, as the U.S. Department of Justice states, "All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law." The case is being prosecuted by the Violent Crime and Immigration Enforcement Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado in tandem with the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section.
