Justice Department will not Seek Death Penalty

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department will not seek the death penalty against a Wyoming teenager accused of killing two people on Montana's Crow Indian Reservation.

The agency announced Friday that Attorney General Loretta Lynch had decided against seeking capital punishment in the case of Jesus Deniz Mendoza after consulting with federal prosecutors in Montana.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Melissa Hornbein declined to give a reason, adding that the agency's recommendation process on death penalty cases is confidential.

The 18-year-old Mendoza faces 12 criminal charges including two counts of first degree murder in the July deaths of Jason and Tana Shane near Pryor. Authorities say the couple and their daughter were shot after stopping to help Mendoza along a roadway.