The childhood friend of a pregnant Texas woman allegedly killed by her husband says prosecutors’ decision to take the death penalty off the table brought the family its "biggest relief" in months as they seek to have the suspect returned from Italy to face trial."Honestly, it was the biggest relief that we've had in months," Cara Kelly, childhood friend of Christa Bauer Gilley, told "Fox & Friends First."Kelly said the death penalty had not been something Christa’s loved ones were seeking or discussing before her husband, Lee Gilley, fled to Italy.EXCLUSIVE: FBI EXTRADITIONS SOAR AS PATEL RAMPS UP FOREIGN OUTREACH, VOWS 'NO SANCTUARY'Lee Mongerson Gilley, 39, is accused of murdering his wife, Christa Bauer Gilley, and their unborn child in Houston in 2024.(Christa Bauer Gilley/Facebook; Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)"No one was pushing for the death penalty.
It wasn't brought up in hearings.It wasn't in the court records," Kelly said.
"It just was not something that we were talking about or thinking about until he fled."The legal hang-up stems from Italy's laws preventing the extradition of someone who potentially faces the death penalty.For Kelly, the development represents a potential step toward what she said Christa’s loved ones have wanted from the beginning: Gilley returned to Texas and the allegations he faces to be decided in court."What we've wanted the entire time… is a fair trial where the evidence can come out to a judge or a jury in Texas where it belongs," she said.Prosecutors released a statement after taking the death penalty off the table last week, insisting that Gilley had "falsely" insisted the death sentence remained possible.IRISH AUTHORITIES SEEK EXTRADITION WARRANT FOR SUSPECT IN MURDER OF AMERICAN MOM JAMEY CARNEY: REPORTLee Gilley and his wife, Christa, who was nine weeks pregnant when she died in October 2024.Gilley is charged with capital murder in her death.
(Christa Bauer Gilley/Facebook)"It is our ho...