A North Carolina judge ruled Monday that the man charged with fatally shooting three Muslims in February could face the death penalty if he is convicted of murder in his upcoming trial.
The Associated Press noted that Judge Orlando Hudson Jr. ruled that Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, could face the death penalty for the slayings of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21 and 19-year-old Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, if he is found guilty.
The Durham County District Attorney's Office offered evidence of aggravating circumstances in the case which Judge Hudson said made it "death penalty qualified."
As previously reported, Hicks, of Chapel Hill, was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of the Muslim college students.
The shooting was believed to have been sparked by a dispute about parking spaces.
Authorities are still investigating if a hate crime was committed. Hicks was a paralegal, who described himself as an atheist on his social media accounts.