Prosecution to Seek Death Penalty in Slaying of Gay Redding Couple
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REDDING, Calif. — The government will seek the death penalty for two brothers accused of murdering two gay men, and a prosecutor said evidence about synagogue arsons in Sacramento will help show that their hate crimes merit execution.
“There was a significant amount of planning that went into these murders,” Shasta County Dist. Atty. McGregor Scott said Tuesday after a brief court hearing. “I think that speaks volumes about the nature of this case.”
Scott said he is confident that he will be able to use evidence about the June fire-bombings of three Sacramento-area synagogues in the trial’s penalty phase. The brothers are suspects in those attacks, but no charges have yet been filed.
Superior Court Judge James Ruggiero granted a defense request to postpone the setting of a trial date until a Jan. 7 hearing for the defendants, Benjamin Matthew Williams and James Tyler Williams.
The two are accused of robbing and killing Gary Matson, 50, and Winfield Mowder, 40, on July 1 at the couple’s home south of Redding.
Benjamin Williams, 31, allegedly admitted in a jailhouse interview that he shot the men because he believed their homosexuality violated God’s law.
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