Version 2 seems most plausible to me. I think it's possible that if he confesses everything, points out people who radicalized him, converts to whatever Charlie's specific brand of Protestantism is, and begs mercy from Ericka, he might get life in prison. Otherwise, there are a lot of people in federal authority that want him dead, maybe even more than Eric Snowden, and that would scare the shit out of me.

When I was younger, I used to debate that the death penalty didn't mean anything to criminals because the punishment could be decades away, they weren't concerned about rules, they were more concerned about not getting caught, and the imminence of someone with low time preference made it make no sense.

Nowadays, there really is something about the death penalty, even the possibility of it, that scares criminals. Even more than 25-to-life. And if the prosecutors are telling him "we're going for the death penalty, and it will be by firing squad" I think he might actually crack.