MORGANTON, N.C. — A Morganton teenager accused of trying to help ISIS will face the death penalty in a separate murder case.
Justin Sullivan, 19, is accused of killing his neighbor months before he expressed support for the terror group, authorities said.
Sullivan was calm in court on Monday and answered every question from the judge without hesitation, even when she asked if he understood that the charge against him could cost him his life.
Sullivan, charged with killing a man as practice for a large-scale terrorist attack, stood confidently when asked to rise and kept eye contact with the judge.
Sullivan's father said his son masked his true feelings.
"He's still scared, though," Rich Sullivan said.
He doesn't see his son as an accused killer or an ISIS convert.
"(I have) flashbacks of how he was and what he could have been," Rich Sullivan said.
Rich Sullivan said Justin Sullivan now regrets his actions. He reported his son after discovering him acting strangely.
Federal agents said Justin watched video of ISIS attacks, including beheadings.
They said he planned to launch large-scale attacks and kill hundreds of people.
He was even ready to kill his parents if they got in his way, agents said, but he wanted to practice killing first.
Police said he used his father's rifle to kill his neighbor, Johnny Clark, 74, then buried Clark's body in Clark's back yard.
"He was such a wonderful man,” Clark's cousin, Gladys Clark, said. “He didn't hurt anyone."
She said she's glad that the murder case is moving quickly, and she had a message for Justin Sullivan.
"God have mercy on your soul," she said.
Because this is a death penalty case, Justin Sullivan will get a second attorney to help defend him on the charge of murder.
He already has another attorney who was with him in court on Monday to represent him on federal charges.
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