The gunman who opened fire on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. could be hit with massive charges, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN's Erica Hill on Wednesday evening — and depending on what happens from here, those charges might even carry capital punishment.
"So, Elie, we heard from officials, including Kash Patel, that they plan to really go after this suspect," said Hill. "What are the charges that this individual could be facing?"
Honig said he expects to see two types of charges, based on current information.
"First of all, under D.C. local law, I'd expect to see this individual charged with two counts, one for each victim, of assault with intent to kill. That's a serious crime. Of course, it carries a penalty of anywhere from 2-15 years. Also, separately, I'd expect to see two counts of the federal crime of attempted murder of a federal official. That applies to uniformed military officials as well. And again, I'd expect to see one count as to each of the victims. So based on what we know already, we're already looking at fairly serious crimes that are likely to be charged."
Honig said an eventual motive could prove significant.
"We've heard our law enforcement experts throughout the day talk about how that's the No. 1 priority right now of law enforcement, to figure out why this person did it. But it's also not necessary to support charges of attempted murder, as I just laid out. As long as prosecutors can show that this was an intentional act, that this person acted on purpose, not by accident, not in self-defense, that's enough, it doesn't matter why, in order to bring those attempted murder charges that I just laid out. So when they establish motive, that will be really important to know. It could lead to additional charges. But they don't need to wait until they establish motive in order to bring those attempted murder charges."
Hill followed up, "There were initial reports that the Guardsmen had passed away, that was then walked back. We know that they are in critical condition. If one of one of them or both did in fact pass away, how does that change things?"
"If, heaven forbid, someone should pass away, that would cause the charges to be upgraded. You would see the attempted murder charge under local law, certainly upgraded to a murder charge," said Honig. "And under federal law, you would see the attempted murder of a federal official, upgraded to actual murder of a federal official. And that's really important, Erica, because that would raise the potential sentence from 20 years up to either life or potentially even the death penalty. So if it should happen — we pray it doesn't happen, but that would lead to even more serious charges."