The U.S. Justice Department has decided to pursue a death penalty case against Chili’s restaurant killer William D. Wood Jr.

United States Attorney General William Barr has authorized and directed the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Syracuse to pursue the death penalty against Wood, the U.S. Attorney Office for the Northern District announced Friday afternoon.

The decision was announced by U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and John Devito, special agent in charge of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Wood, 33, of Syracuse was indicted by a federal grand jury Feb.14 for crimes resulting from the Sept. 15, 2018 armed robbery of Chili’s Bar and Grill in DeWitt, and the murders of two employees committed during the course of that robbery.

While the federal charges contained in that indictment carry a maximum sentence of death, the death penalty could only be pursued if authorized by Barr.

This is a highly unusual move, said Richard Southwick, speaking for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District.

This is the first time a federal death penalty prosecution has been approved in the Syracuse office of the northern district, Southwick said.

Before this, he said death penalty cases have only been approved three other times across the entire northern district. The district covers 32 Upstate counties, stretching from just west of the Syracuse area to Albany and from the Bingahmton-area to the Canadian border.

Lisa Peebles, federal public defender in Syracuse, said she was surprised initially that this case was being considered for the death penalty.

Now, Peebles said, she’s surprised at how fast they authorized the case, and said she also “finds the timing very interesting.” That’s because Wood is scheduled to be sentenced to life without parole on Monday and this decision was issued late this afternoon, she said.

Wood has admitted in state court to killing the two men, pleading guilty to 10 charges in all. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Monday to life in state prison without parole on the state charges.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said the sentencing will continue Monday as scheduled.

"I thank my colleague Grant Jaquith for his advocacy, and Attorney General Barr for what is the right decision,'' he said. “Now a jury will decide.”

What happens next? Typically the federal judge will issue a scheduling order, which will set out the deadlines and dates for items such as discovery. A trial date may not be set yet until some of the other deadlines are met, Southwick said.

The federal case is completely separate from the state case and Wood is presumed innocent until a verdict is reached in federal court.

What makes the Chili’s killings a federal case? Legal experts have told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that federal prosecutors can try to argue that the killings violate the Hobbs Act, a federal law that make attempted or actual robbery that affects interstate commerce a crime.

The federal death penalty was last considered in Central New York for David Renz, who pleaded guilty to raping a 10-year-old girl and killing Liverpool school librarian Lori Bresnahan after abducting them in the parking lot of Great Northern Mall in Clay on March 14, 2013.

Federal officials in Washington, D.C. decided against seeking the death penalty for Renz.

Renz was sent to state prison for life without a chance for parole.

Most death penalty convictions occur in state courts, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

There are currently 62 prisoners on federal death row compared to more than 2,500 on death row in states, according to the center.

Since the reinstatement of the federal death penalty in 1988, only three people have been executed by the federal government, according to the Death Penalty Information Center: