A black soldier who starved his girlfriend's 10-year-old son to death as punishment for eating too many sweets faces the death penalty

In a rare move in the state of Oklahoma, the federal government is seeking the punishment for Connell C. Williams, 32, a black former private at Fort Sill. Williams is accused of withholding food from Marcus Holloway who lost half his body weight before his death on May 5, 2011. The boy died of severe malnutrition after being given just water and rice cakes while he spent months locked in a room his sister branded a dungeon. Marcus weighed just 44 pounds when he died - about 26 pounds less than the weight of a healthy 10-year-old. At Williams's detention hearing in September 2011, one physician said that the boy's malnourishment was consistent with that of concentration camp photos. The African-American suspect told investigators that he was punishing the boy for eating too many sweets. Williams lived with the boy, his sister and mother at Fort Sill housing. He was not Marcus's biological father and was married to another woman.