The suspected gunman who shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers in May should not face the death penalty, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced earlier this month that Elias Rodriguez, 31, would be eligible for the death penalty if found guilty in the May 21 murders of Sarah Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, as they left the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

“I write to you with a heavy heart to urge that in holding accountable the murderer of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, you do not seek the death penalty,” Pesner wrote. “Even in this most heinous circumstance, we cannot endorse the further taking of human life.”

“Desp

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