The two men accused of sniper-style shootings which terrorised the Washington DC area are facing six homicide charges each.
Authorities in Maryland said they would probably notpursue capital murder charges against one of the alleged shooters,who is a juvenile, but said they would seek the death penaltyagainst the older man.
Mr John Muhammad and Mr John Lee Malvo, 17, a Jamaican, were caught on Thursday after a huge nationwide manhunt.
Investigators said ballistics tests showed a rifle found intheir car was used in at least 11 of the 13 sniper-style shootingsthat left 10 dead and three wounded in the region since October 2nd.
Various US states jockeyedfor the right to prosecute thepair, who are currently being held by federal authorities. Some in the law enforcement community expressed concern thatlaws in the state of Maryland, where six of the sniper victims died,were not stringent enough to insure a death penalty conviction.
But Maryland Governor Mr Parris Glendening said Friday that thestate's moratorium on the death penalty expires in April and wouldnot interfere with the case against the two accused shooters.
"I don't think you'll see any problems with the full prosecutionof this case," he said.
Authorities in the southern state of Virginia, which hasexecuted more prisoners than any US state other than Texas, havealso expressed interest in bringing charges against the suspects."Clearly, this is a case that, I believe, where the deathpenalty is appropriate," said Mr Mark Warner, governor of Virginia,where three victims were killed.
Mr Muhammad has also been charged with capital murder in thesouthern US state of Alabama for his part in a robbery in which onewoman was killed and another seriously wounded.Meanwhile, millions of people in the Washington region wererelieved to resume their daily lives Friday, running errands withoutfeeling like potential targets.
Mr Muhammad served in the army from 1985-1994, becoming a sergeantand serving in the 1991 Gulf War. He held the highest-level "expert"rating with the M-16 rifle, the military version of the Bushmasterrifle police say was used by the sniper.
Less is known about Mr Malvo. US immigration officials do not havea John Lee Malvo on file, and neither does Jamaica, a Jamaicanofficial said, adding that a John Boyd Malvo may have entered theUnited States illegally in 1999.
Meanwhile, police in Tacoma, Washington were looking intowhether the pair had a role in the February 16th slaying of a21-year-old acquaintance of Mr Muhammad's who killed with a single shotfrom a high-calibre handgun.