Gang suspect goes on trial in double homicide case - CharlotteObserver.com

Gang suspect goes on trial in double homicide case - CharlotteObserver.com: "Alejandro Umana, 25, is also charged with conspiring to extort money from Charlotte drug dealers to increase MS-13's revenues and to intimidate witnesses to prevent them from cooperating with law enforcement authorities investigating the gang's activities.
Umana is accused of killing two brothers in a restaurant in Greensboro in December 2007. He killed them, prosecutors allege, to maintain MS-13's reputation and to advance his position within the gang's criminal enterprise.
Prosecutors have said they will introduce evidence during the trial that Umana also killed two men in Los Angeles in 2005 and participated in a third killing in that city that same year.
It's only the second time that federal prosecutors have sought the death penalty in Charlotte since capital punishment was reinstated for federal crimes in 1988.
Aquilia Barnette was sentenced to death in 1998 for the murders of a motorist in Charlotte and his former girlfriend in Roanoke, Va. His sentence was overturned, but he was sentenced to death again in 2002.
Umana was among 26 suspected MS-13 gang members indicted in Charlotte in 2008. Prosecutors alleged that the gang was part of an international organization that committed crimes across Charlotte, including robbery, racketeering, extortion and murder.
Defense lawyers had sought to prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Umana. They argued that Umana couldn't be tried for his life because he is mentally retarded. Their client, they said, has an IQ of 66. An IQ score of 70 or lower is considered mentally retarded."