LOWNDES COUNTY, Ala. (AP) – Prosecutors are upgrading the charge against a teenager suspected in the shooting death of an Alabama sheriff, making him eligible for the death penalty.
News outlets report that authorities have signed a capital murder warrant for 18-year-old William Chase Johnson. He was previously charged with murder in the killing of Lowndes County Sheriff John Williams.
The new charge carries a possible death penalty, while the original charge has a maximum sentence of life.
Williams was shot to death at a gas station late last month. Johnson is the son of a sheriff’s deputy in neighboring Montgomery County. He hasn’t entered a plea in the case.
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