The Rutland City Poilice Department in Dec. 2021. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Federal prosecutors filed a new indictment charging two Massachusetts men with a capital crime in the fatal shooting of a Rutland man in 2024 in a case of mistaken identity.  The prosecutors also submitted a notice that they do not intend to seek the death penalty as a possible punishment. The new indictment was filed Wednesday in federal court in Vermont.  The indictment naming Dylin Wainscott, 30, of Westfield, Massachusetts, and Precious Okorie, 32, of Springfield, Massachusetts, accuses them of causing the death of 32-year-old Christopher Hale in November 2024. That charge could have carried the possibility of the death penalty. Authorities allege that the intended target was a drug rival, not Hale.   Death penalty cases are rare in Vermont. The last execution in the state was in 1954.  The state does not have a death penalty statute. However, the death penalty is permitted under federal law.  Federal prosecutors have filed two death penalty cases in Vermont since President Donald Trump took office again in January 2025. The current administration lifted a moratorium on the federal death penalty that had been in place under former President Joe Biden. One of those cases has resulted in a plea deal without the death penalty for a former Stowe man charged in a drug-related double homicide of two Massachusetts men in northern Vermont. The other case is pending against a suspect charged in the fatal shooting of a border patrol agent in Vermont in January 2025. The indictment returned Wednesday included a count that Wainscott and Okorie carried and used firearms in a drug trafficking crime. The charge further alleged that Wainscott “aided and abetted” Okorie and “discharged a firearm and caused” Hale’s death.  The indictment also charged Dakota Moretti, 35, and Nichole Siliski, 40, both of Rutland, with participating in that drug distribution conspiracy. Wainscott pleaded not guilty in November 2024 on state charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and possession of an illegal narcotic. Okorie pleaded not guilty to state charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and being an accessory before the fact. Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan filed motions Thursday in state court to dismiss the state murder-related charges against the men without prejudice, meaning the charges could be refiled in the future.  Sullivan had said during the arraignments on the state charges in November 2024 that Hale was not the intended target in the killing.  According to court records, about 10 days before the shooting Wainscott was robbed of drugs and money at gunpoint by a rival drug dealer at a Rutland apartment. On the day of the shooting, court records stated, Wainscott went to the area of the apartment, believing that the person who carried out the robbery was at or coming to that location. Wainscott had worked with Okorie and Moretti to find the person, court records said.  A little before 7 p.m., according to court records, Hale, who was not the rival drug dealer, showed up at the apartment and was shot and killed.  Both Okorie and Wainscott had also previously been indicted on federal drug and firearms charges related to their alleged actions around the time of the killing in 2024. Attorneys for Wainscott and Okorie could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment. The U.S. attorney’s office for Vermont acknowledged the work of other law enforcement but declined to comment further on why they did not seek the death penalty. Read the story on VTDigger here: Federal prosecutors take over charges in Rutland murder case, won’t seek death penalty. ...read more read less