SAN FRANCISCO — Any thoughts that an Obama presidency would herald a moratorium of the federal death penalty can be safely laid to rest.

Attorney General Eric Holder recently rejected a defense offer of life without the possibility of release in the prosecution of alleged San Francisco gangbanger Dennis Cyrus, according to sources familiar with the case. The decision came after Holder accepted a 41-year plea deal in a separate capital gang trial that had opened down the hall the same week.