In this Nov. 14, 2014 file photo Jesse Matthew Jr., right, looks toward the gallery while appearing in court in Fairfax, Va. (Bill O'leary/The Washington Post) 
 
 — The man accused of abducting and killing University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham last fall will now face a charge of capital murder in the case, meaning that if he is convicted he could face the death penalty. 
 
 Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 33, had been charged with first-degree murder in Graham’s slaying, and the charges were upgraded at a court hearing in this college town on Tuesday. Homicides in Virginia can be charged as capital murders when there are allegations of aggravating factors, including abduction or sexual assault. 
 
 Graham, 18, of Fairfax County, Va., went missing in September from an outdoor mall near the U-Va. campus, and Matthew was the last person seen with her. Her body was found in a wooded area about 10 miles from campus weeks later, and Matthew was charged with her killing. 
 
 [For Hannah Graham’s family, ‘nightmare’ leaves enduring uncertainty and loss.] 
 
 Authorities have alleged that Matthew abducted Graham “with intent to defile,” indicating that police believe he intended to sexually assault Graham. 
 
 Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford initially did not seek a capital murder charge, saying she made that decision after consulting with Graham’s family and weighing the impact on the community. 
 
 Matthew also is facing charges related to a sexual assault from nearly a decade ago. He is awaiting trial on charges that he attacked and attempted to kill a woman in Fairfax City in 2005; authorities have said that they found Matthew’s DNA under one of the victim’s fingernails. 
 
 Graham, a U-Va. sophomore who graduated from West Potomac High School, disappeared after a night out in Charlottesville on Sept. 12. Police said she had been socializing with friends earlier in the night but left the group with plans to meet up with them later. She never showed up and apparently became disoriented while walking through Charlottesville. 
 
 Police said witnesses saw Matthew with his arm around Graham at a downtown mall about 1 a.m. Sept. 13, and surveillance video recordings show the two walking together. Witnesses also saw the two together outside a restaurant, the last reported sighting of Graham. ||||| Jesse Matthew Jr., who was already charged with abduction with intent to defile in the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, is now charged with first-degree murder. VPC 
 
 Jesse Matthew Jr. appears in court Nov. 14, 2014, in Fairfax, Va. (Photo: Bill O'Leary, AP) 
 
 CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A former taxi driver suspected in the killing of a University of Virginia co-ed has been indicted in her death, authorities said Tuesday. 
 
 Jesse Matthew Jr., 33, of Charlottesville, Va., was indicted Monday on charges of first-degree murder, abduction with intent to defile and reckless driving, said Denise Lunsford, Albemarle County commonwealth's attorney. He previously had been charged with abduction with intent to defile in connection with the Sept. 13 disappearance of Hannah Graham and reckless driving because he eluded officers' attempts to follow him after he showed up at Charlottesville's police station asking for a lawyer a week later. 
 
 "It's been an incredibly difficult process for the Graham family," Lunsford said. "These prosecutions for the abduction and murder of Hannah will bring Mr. Mathew to justice for these crimes, crimes that were committed against her family and against our community." 
 
 He will not face the death penalty, she said. 
 
 "A great deal of thought went into this determination," said Lunsford, who would not elaborate on why Matthew was not indicted on a capital murder charge. He could face up to life in prison. 
 
 Darrel Puckett, chief prosecutor in Appomattox County, said one factor typically considered in weighing murder charges is Virginia's automatic appeal in death-penalty cases. In a 2010 case of a mentally deranged man who killed eight people, Puckett declined to seek the death penalty in part because of the likelihood that a conviction would be reversed. 
 
 Hannah Graham disappeared Sept. 13 in Charlottesville, Va.; her body was found more than a month later in Albemarle County, Va. (Photo: AP) 
 
 Puckett, who secured three life sentences in the case, said a prosecutor also would be expected to seek advice from a broad spectrum of people, including the victim's family, before deciding between first-degree and capital murder. 
 
 "You can't allow emotion to rule," Puckett said. "You have to do what's in the best interests of everyone involved." 
 
 Graham, 18, of Alexandria, Va., was in her second year at the University of Virginia here when she vanished in mid-September after being seen leaving a downtown Charlottesville bar. Her body was found Oct. 18 at an abandoned property in Albemarle County, Va. 
 
 Graham was last seen alive on surveillance video and by witnesses with Matthew, who worked for the University of Virginia Medical Center as an operating-room patient technician for two years before his arrest. From 2007 to 2010, he had a taxi license. 
 
 Her body was found near another body discovered in January 2010: Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, who had traveled in October 2009 to Charlottesville for a concert. 
 
 Matthew remains in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in Fairfax, Va., where he is awaiting trial on an attempted capital-murder charge and two other charges in connection with the 2005 attack of a woman in that county. The woman is not being identified because she was the victim of a sexual assault. 
 
 His March trial was postponed last week, and a hearing in that case is scheduled Friday. 
 
 Matthew also could face charges in Harrington's death, but Lunsford would not comment on that case. 
 
 Denise Lunsford, Albemarle County commonwealth's attorney, answers questions Feb. 10, 2015, in Charlottesville, Va., after announcing Jesse Matthew Jr. was indicted on a first-degree murder charge. (Photo: Andrew Shurtleff, AP) 
 
 "The Hannah Graham case was ready to be charged," she said, also saying that she has talked with Graham's family about the case and family members have asked not to be contacted for comment. 
 
 Craig Maniglia, Hannah Graham's high school softball coach and a longtime friend of the family, said he is hopeful a conviction will bring closure. 
 
 "Once convicted, my hope is that Mr. Matthew will not go free and be in a position to harm innocent young women ever again," Maniglia said. 
 
 Matthews, who fled Virginia after speeding away from the Charlottesville police station in September and was arrested on a beach in Texas, will have the first hearing on his Albemarle County charges Feb. 18 but will stay in Fairfax County and attend via video, Lunsford said. 
 
 Both cases will move through the justice system at their own individual paces, the commonwealth's attorney said. 
 
 "It's hard to say which one will go first. The cases are sort of connected," she said. "It really doesn't matter which one goes first." 
 
 Contributing: Joanie Vasiliadis, WUSA-TV, Washington; The Associated Press 
 
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– The man accused of abducting and murdering a University of Virginia sophomore will now face the death penalty. Prosecutors today announced a charge of capital murder against 33-year-old Jesse Matthew in the death of Hannah Graham last year, reports the Daily Progress. Prosecutors initially didn't seek the death penalty, but the state attorney for Albemarle County said today that there is "compelling evidence from the lab that capital charges are now appropriate." Denise Lunsford didn't offer specifics, but the Washington Post notes that capital charges can be brought when "aggravating factors" such as sexual assault are present. As a result of the capital murder charge, Matthew was appointed new attorneys because his previous defense team did not have experience with death-penalty cases. Matthew also is a suspect in a 2005 sexual assault, and his DNA has been linked to the body of a young woman found outside Charlottesville in 2009.