Federal prosecutors to seek death penalty after 2nd prisoner killed by Colorado inmate

The U.S. Department of Justice announced its intent to seek the maximum penalty against 56-year-old Ishmael Petty should its prosecutors succeed in convicting him of murdering a second fellow inmate. 

That maximum penalty is death.

A federal grand in Denver indicted Petty on two murder counts Tuesday. He was already serving a life sentence in a federal penitentiary, the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX), located in Florence, Colorado. 

After the grand jury's indictment, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi authorized the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, J. Bishop Grewell, to pursue capital punishment in the case. The Colorado office's prosecutors then filed with the court a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Petty. 

According to Thursday's indictment, Petty attacked another ADX inmate on Sept. 19, 2020. The other inmate was identified only by the initials "L.H." No other details about the incident were provided in the case documents. 

Petty was already serving a life term for the murder of an inmate in a different federal facility in 2002. No court documents or earlier reports could be found about that incident.

Petty was initially imprisoned in 1998 on a bank robbery convicted, per the DOJ. 

Another 60 years was added on to Petty's life sentence in 2015 after he assaulted two federal officers at ADX two years earlier. In that case, he was initially charged with using a weapon to injure three prison employees.

Next, Petty will have an arraignment which has yet to be scheduled. Prosecutors have filed a motion that Petty join the proceedings via video teleconference rather than be physically transported to Denver for that hearing.