The President said he would instruct the Justice Department to seek the death penalty.
By Catholics for Catholics
President Donald Trump had a stern warning for those who have kidnapped Nancy Guthrie: harm her and face the death penalty. Period.
Trump told The New York Post Monday that those who have kidnapped Guthrie should free her unscathed or they will face the “most severe” federal penalties.
According to Newsmax, Trump said he will instruct the Justice Department to seek the death penalty if the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie is killed. Guthrie was abducted from her Tucson home on Feb. 1.
The abduction of Guthrie has garnered national awareness, inducing a considerable investigation involving local and federal law enforcement agencies. Newsmax reported that Trump’s words show that his administration is poised to implement federal charges in this case, which is customary in famous kidnappings.
The use of capital punishment was considerably curbed under former President Joe Biden, who commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row. But the Trump administration has said it plans to relocate those convicts to a federal supermax site to serve out their sentences under rigorous conditions.
The President has long been in favor of harsher punishments in cases involving violent offenders, specifically crimes against children and the elderly. The state of Arizona has the death penalty, but executions have been sporadic in recent years. Of the 109 inmates currently on Arizona’s death row, many have been there for decades.
Since 2022, Arizona state has performed just two executions, after an almost two-year pause ordered by the Democrat-led state government. That pause was canceled in late 2024.
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