Why don’t federal prosecutors simply file a murder charge in every homicide case?
McCarter partner and former US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary Myers weighed in on that question in an interview with WTHR following the federal indictment of a suspect charged in the death of Indiana teenager Hailey Buzbee.
Discussing the charges, Zach explained: “These are federal charges, and the federal law has different jurisdiction than state charges. So there typically isn’t just a plain murder charge available in federal court. However, several of the charges they brought, including kidnapping and transporting a minor or traveling in interstate commerce, resulting, you know, for the purpose of unlawful sexual conduct resulting in death, carries a sentence of the maximum of life imprisonment or death.”