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U.S. AG: No Death Penalty In Suspected Brooklyn Gang Killing

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says his office will not pursue the death penalty against three suspected gang members accused of a gruesome murder in Brooklyn.

The three suspected gang members, Christian John, Shaquan Jones, both 31, and Marvin Johnson, 30, were charged with murder in the 2006 death of Earle Obermuller.

Obermuller was killed in the basement of a brownstone. Court papers say the trio bound his face and limbs and watched him suffocate.

Holder's decision was sent Thursday to a federal judge in Brooklyn trying the case, which is slated to begin Oct. 22.

All death-penalty-eligible cases are reviewed by the attorney general. The reasons for the decision are kept confidential.

An attorney for Jones told the Daily News of New York that the decision was appropriate.

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