Court adds charges to Atwater case

One of two suspects indicted in the shooting death of Eve Carson, student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was charged with additional crimes Monday.

Demario Atwater, 22, was indicted by a federal grand jury for taking Carson's Toyota Highlander in addition to carjacking related to the murder, both of which are punishable by the death penalty if prosecutors choose to seek it. He is also being charged with having an unregistered sawed-off shotgun. The crimes were a violation of Atwater's parole for breaking into and entering a Raleigh home in 2005.

Atwater and Laurence Lovette, then 17, were indicted for Carson's murder in July.

Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall said he would seek the death penalty against Atwater, The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported Monday. Because of Lovette's age at the time of the murder, he is ineligible for capital punishment. The county has not sent anyone to death row since 1970.

Pursuit of the death penalty requires approval from the U.S. attorney general, and The N&O reported that he had not yet ruled on the matter.

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