New evidence has emerged that Alex Pretti was known to federal agents more than a week before he was gunned down, and a veteran columnist made a case that the government officers who killed him committed first-degree murder.CNN reported that Pretti suffered a broken rib about a week before his death...
When your priority is counting bullet holes as a doctor performs triage on your victim a case can be made for 1st degree murder.
They also had an altercation with Pretti a week or so before. So there’s a case for something like retribution here.
It’s also not uncommon for a prosecutor to shoot for higher murder charges to secure a plea on a lower classification and save on efforts in a trial and keep conviction rates high. The same thing often happens for drug distribution > possession > usage cases.