NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
How serious is murdering FBI agent
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek, with over 40 years of combined experience handling criminal defense cases across the country. We’ve represented clients in cases that captured national attention – like Anna Delvey’s trial that became a Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case, and many others. If you’re researching this topic, you’re likely facing the most serious federal criminal exposure possible – and you need to understand exactly what you’re up against.
Murdering an FBI agent is about as serious as federal criminal law gets. We’re talking death penalty or mandatory life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. This isn’t state court where you might negotiate something down or see a judge show leniency. Federal prosecutors treat these cases differently than any other homicide – and in 2025, the Justice Department is actively pushing for capital punishment.
The Death Penalty Is Back on the Table in 2025
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to pursue the death penalty for crimes involving the murder of law enforcement officers. Attorney General Pamela Bondi followed up with memos instructing federal prosecutors to seek capital punishment in these cases.
This isn’t theoretical. In January 2025, Border Patrol Agent David Maland was killed during a traffic stop in Vermont. The DOJ authorized the death penalty against Teresa Youngblut, 21, who allegedly opened fire without warning. That case is moving forward right now as a capital prosecution.
According to DOJ policy directives from February 2025, prosecutors are instructed to pursue death sentences for anyone who murders a federal law enforcement official. Federal judges, FBI agents, DEA agents, ATF agents, Border Patrol agents – killing any of them while they’re performing official duties puts you in death penalty territory.
Compare that to 2021-2024, when the Biden administration had an informal moratorium on seeking new death sentences. That’s over. If you’re charged with killing an FBI agent in 2025, the government is coming for a death sentence.
18 USC 1114 Covers More Than You Think
The statute is 18 U.S.C. § 1114 – and it’s been expanded repeatedly since it was first enacted. As of 1996, it covers any officer or employee of the United States or any agency in any branch of the federal government. That includes FBI agents, obviously, but also federal prosecutors, federal judges, IRS agents, postal inspectors, park rangers working for the National Park Service.
The government has to prove the killing happened “while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties.” That’s a broad standard. If an FBI agent gets killed during an arrest, that’s covered. If an FBI agent gets killed because of testimony they gave in court six months ago, that’s covered too. Retaliation counts. Interfering with an ongoing investigation counts.
First-degree murder under this statute means you face the penalties in 18 USC 1111 – death or life imprisonment. There’s no parole in the federal system anymore. Life means life. You die in federal prison.
Second-degree murder gets you any term of years or life – but federal sentencing guidelines still recommend decades.
Why Federal Prosecutors Treat These Cases Differently
Killing a federal officer triggers a level of resources and attention that other homicides don’t. The entire federal law enforcement apparatus treats it as an attack on the government itself. You’ll see task forces, national media coverage, political pressure to seek maximum penalties.
Federal jurisdiction means the case gets prosecuted in federal court – not state court. That matters because federal prosecutors have more resources, more experienced agents working the case, and federal judges who are generally tougher on violent crime than state judges. Federal rules of evidence are different. Federal sentencing is different. There’s no parole.
Leonard Peltier is the most famous example. He was convicted in 1977 of murdering two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He got two consecutive life sentences – and he served 49 years before President Biden commuted his sentence to home confinement in January 2025. That commutation was controversial, heavily opposed by the FBI and law enforcement groups. It shows you how seriously the feds take these cases – Peltier spent nearly half a century in federal prison, and he only got out because a sitting president intervened at age 80.
Most defendants don’t get presidential commutations. They serve every day of their sentence.
What Actually Happens at Sentencing
If you’re convicted of first-degree murder of an FBI agent, the judge doesn’t have discretion to give you less than life imprisonment unless the death penalty phase results in a life sentence. The statute ties penalties to 18 USC 1111, which provides for death or life imprisonment for first-degree murder.
The death penalty phase is a separate proceeding. The jury hears aggravating factors – whether the murder was especially heinous, whether you killed multiple people, whether you killed to obstruct justice. Then mitigating factors – your background, mental health, anything that might convince them to spare your life.
If the jury votes for death, you get death. If they vote for life, you get life with no parole. There’s no third option.
Attempted murder of a federal officer can get you up to 20 years. That’s for trying to kill an agent and failing. If you succeed, it’s life or death.
Cases We’ve Seen
We’ve handled federal murder cases and other violent crime cases where the government brought overwhelming resources. The feds don’t bluff in these cases. If they indict you for murdering an FBI agent, they’ve already built a case they believe will result in conviction.
In 2025, Anthony Brillante II was convicted of hiring a hitman to murder a federal prosecutor and an FBI special agent. His sentencing is scheduled for October 2025 – he’s facing life imprisonment.
The government wants to send a message. Prosecutors don’t offer plea deals in these cases like they might in drug cases or fraud cases. They take it to trial and ask for the maximum.
If you’re under investigation or charged with any crime involving violence against an FBI agent or other federal officer, you’re facing a level of federal prosecution that most criminal defendants never see. This is career-ending stuff for you – and career-making stuff for the prosecutors. They will dedicate unlimited resources to convicting you.
We’ve represented clients in cases that made headlines across the country – cases where the government brought everything they had. We know what federal prosecutors do in these cases because we’ve been on the other side of them.
Don’t talk to investigators without a lawyer. Anything you say will be used to build the case against you. Don’t wait to get legal representation – these cases move fast, and the decisions you make in the first 48 hours matter.
If you’re involved in a case like this, reach out to us immediately. We’re available 24/7. This is the most serious criminal exposure you can face.