Federal prosecutors announced they will not seek the death penalty in the trial of Ahmed Abu Khatallah, who played a hand in the Benghazi attack that left American ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead. The Obama administration didn’t explain their thinking in Tuesday’s brief court filing. Killing America’s representative for peace is an act of war and the alleged ringleader of the attack deserves a full measure of justice. But the Obama administration might be thinking less about justice and more about furthering its lie that it did all it could do that fateful September night ahead of the 2012 election.

“By opting not to seek the death penalty,” explains former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, “the Justice Department is in a stronger position to argue to the court that the only narrow issue for the jury is whether Khatallah’s conduct makes him guilty of the specific charges in the indictment. Prosecutors have a far better chance of preventing the trial from becoming a free-wheeling inquiry into what happened in Benghazi, and why.”

This comes as a U.S. Air Force whistleblower said the Air Force at the time could have helped blunt the force of the jihadist attack, possibly saving two American lives. But the whistleblower is afraid to speak to lawmakers investigating the attack, fearing retribution from higher-ups.

Furthermore, even though Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the death penalty could be utilized in her administration, Obama and Co. further dishonor the lives of the four Americans who died in the attack by proclaiming to the world that Khatallah’s cold-blooded deeds are not worthy of the ultimate sanction.