For the first time as DeKalb District Attorney, Robert James is seeking a death sentence.  And not just one, but three.

James has notified the courts that he will be going for the death penalty against three alleged gang members who are charged with the beating death of a man in January of this year.

"The facts of this case scream out for the death penalty," James said after making his intentions known in court.

The case centers on the death of Robert Ross, who was killed at the Super 8 Motel, in Tucker, on January 8.

According to the DA, the 46 year old Ross was at the motel with Darrius Aderhold, Christopher Foreman and Jonathan Ray.  Why they had met up has not been determined.

At the motel, James says, the three punched and stomped Ross to death.  Then, following the killing, they disfigured the body and took Ross' jewelry and vehicle. 

James says the murder was part of an initiation into the gang "The Bloods."

"The details of this case are terrible, they're horrible, they're egregious," says James.  He says Ross was minding his business, bothering no one, when he was attacked.  "This was not a mutual combat situation.  We have a real victim in this case.  And, if we don't seek the death penalty in this case, then when is it appropriate?"

James says the suspects may have targeted Ross because, he says, they perceived him to be gay.

James has never initiated a death penalty case.  He has prosecuted four, but those were all inherited from his predecessor.

Regardless of the brutal nature of Ross' death, James says he was not sure whether to seek death sentences against the three.

"We're in December and I began reviewing this case in March," James says.  "If time tells you how difficult it was for me, it was not an easy decision."

James says he decided to seek death sentences against all three because, he says, all three participated in the beating death at some level.

The District Attorney says, after thinking it through and discussing it with his staff, he opted for the death penalty for the sake of consistency and justice.

"If we don't seek it in a case where an individual is singled out," says James, "perhaps because of his perceived sexual orientation, where there's gang activity involved, and where a person is beaten, literally, to death with hands and feet and, perhaps, other things, what case do I consider death in if I don't consider it in that case?"