Wayne County Attorney Michael Winn said he will seek the death penalty against the man charged with killing three women in the southern Utah county earlier this week.

Ivan Miller, 22, of Blakesburg, Iowa has been charged in Utah’s 6th District Court with three counts of aggravated murder, which carries a potential death sentence if he is convicted. Miller is accused of killing Margaret Oldroyd, 86, in her Lyman home, and Linda Dewey, 65, and her niece Natalie Graves, 34, as they began a hike from the Cocks Comb trailhead on Wednesday.

Winn said he made the decision late Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, he had declined to say whether he would pursue the penalty when speaking with The Salt Lake Tribune.

Earlier Friday, Winn said on Saturday, “this was still unfolding for me and still developing.” He added he had not yet had time at that point to “contemplate” whether to seek the death penalty.

Winn said the Utah Attorney General’s Office has offered to help prosecute the case — assistance that could ease the burden on Wayne County, which has a population of about 2,600.

The prosecutor said he does not yet know what that help will look like, though the office has said its staffers “stand ready” to assist.

“We appreciate our AG being available and ready to help in whatever way they can,” Winn said Saturday.

A spokesperson for the Utah Attorney General’s Office did not immediately return a call from The Tribune Saturday.

Miller appeared in a Colorado courtroom Friday, where a Durango public defender said he will fight Miller’s extradition to Utah after the Iowa man’s arrest early Thursday in Pagosa Springs.

In Utah, a judge appointed defense attorneys Neal Hamilton and Katie Filler as Miller’s representation in the Wayne County case.

Defendants charged with crimes and facing potential incarceration have a constitutional right to have an attorney represent them. If they can’t afford a lawyer, it is the government’s responsibility to pay for and provide them one.

Utah puts that financial burden on individual counties, and in the past, it has been criticized for doing so. So the state started chipping in to pay for public defenders a decade ago, when it created the Utah Indigent Defense Commission — which doles out state grants typically focused on providing public defenders in rural counties.

Hamilton, the Utah attorney who will represent Miller, noted in a Friday court filing that he has a contract with the commission, and he was contacted by them and informed that he would be assigned to represent Miller.

Hamilton also noted in the court filings that he has the special qualifications needed to handle a death penalty-eligible case.

Wayne County will likely also have access to another state-managed fund, which counties pay into to help cover the costs of a death penalty case. It is similar to an insurance policy that county officials can tap money from when pursuing capital cases.

It’s up to each county whether it wants to pay into that pot, and Wayne County historically has participated.

In Colorado, Archuleta County Judge Anthony Edwards set a new court date for Miller in May. Because he faces death penalty–eligible charges in Utah, Miller is not eligible for bail.

A court date has not been set in Utah, where authorities are awaiting his extradition back to the state.

Family, friends and community members left tributes Friday at the trailhead where Dewey and Graves were killed. Pink silk flowers, letters, photos of the women, string lights and a sun-shaped art piece inscribed with the names of all three women were hung on a tree in their memory.