Vermont Law School professor Michael Mello, an expert on the death penalty, said it could be the first time federal prosecutors seek the death penalty using changes to federal law included in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
"This is a big deal," Mello said. "What the Adam Walsh amendment was intended to do, in effect, is to make virtually any kidnapping with death resulting a federal capital offense."
Federal prosecutors charge that Jacques, Brooke's uncle, used fictitious e-mail identities to help orchestrate the June 25 abduction of the girl. After dropping Brooke off at a Randolph convenience store, Jacques and a 14-year-old witness identified as Juvenile 1 picked her up again and took Brooke back to Jacques' home.
Juvenile 1 told police she felt Brooke was going to be initiated into a "program for sex." The girl said the last time she saw Brooke, Brooke was going upstairs with Jacques. Brooke's body was found July 2 buried in a shallow grave about a mile from Jacques' home.
Prosecutors have suggested no motive for the alleged kidnapping. Jacques has not yet appeared in federal court to enter a plea in the case.
State prosecutors have turned the case over to the US attorney's office. The investigation into Brooke's death isn't complete, and it will be months before a decision is made on whether to seek the death penalty against Jacques.
Vermont hasn't executed a prisoner since 1954 and the last death sentence came in 1957, although the sentence was commuted and the inmate later released.
In effect, the Legislature outlawed the death penalty in 1965 although it technically remained a part of state law until 1987. But the state's death penalty law was invalidated in 1972 by the US Supreme Court decision that commuted all death sentences in the country at that time.
The last time the Vermont Legislature gave the death penalty serious consideration was in 1987, said state Senator Vince Illuzzi, a Republican from Essex-Orleans who introduced the legislation. Instead, the Legislature enacted the aggravated murder law, which carries with it a mandatory sentence of life without parole.
Illuzzi said he felt the state's lack of a death penalty made Vermont's US attorney more likely to get involved in cases such as Brooke's death.
