Days after Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered Justice Department officials to pursue capital punishment more broadly, Mairead Burke got an email about a potential new client in D.C.

A lawyer wanted to know if Burke, a mitigation specialist whose job is to look into the personal histories of defendants, could dive into the client’s background after the defense team learned the prosecution was now considering seeking the death penalty in his case.

Cedae Hardy was 18 when he went on a months-long carjacking spree in 2023, prosecutors say. He shot a Lyft driver in the abdomen and, with a partner, left another victim collapsed and dying in a parking lot, according to federal authorities.

During the Biden administration, Justice Department officials decided not to seek capital punishment in H

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