SAN DIEGO -- A prosecutor announced Monday he will seek the death penalty for a convicted sex offender accused of killing a young Santee woman whose body was found in a trash can in the East County mountains.

Prosecutor John Rice made the announcement this morning as Robert Steven Carson, 40, appeared before Judge Allan Preckel at a hearing on the status of his case. Carson is charged with murder, attempted forcible rape and possession of methamphetamine in connection with last year's death of 24-year-old Brittany Hart.

Rice said the victim's family met with District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and was "in favor of seeking the death penalty."

He said the "brutal killing of the victim and the manner in which her body was disposed of in a trash can filled with acid" were factors in his office's decision to seek the ultimate penalty for the defendant, whose alleged crime was his "crown jewel."

Defense attorney Stacy Gulley said he wanted Carson to be reclassified as a prisoner as a "dignity issue" so he can attend church services and get decent medical care for a staph infection.

Carson wears green jail clothes because he's considered an escape risk, Gulley said.

The next status hearing in the case was set for Sept. 8 and a trial date was set for March 2.

Hart went missing May 24 last year and her body was discovered off Interstate 8 near Buckman Springs. Carson was arrested last June 5 by sheriff's detectives, who say they linked the two through cell phone records.

A judge in April refused to drop a special circumstance allegation of murder during an attempted rape, which makes Carson eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

In a preliminary hearing last year, detectives testified that Hart met Carson at a Costco in La Mesa where she worked, and the next day she made an Internet search of a sexually suggestive name of a clothing line he told her he had started.

The woman left a cell phone message for her mother that day and was never heard from again.

In a television appearance several months later, Carson claimed he killed Hart when she came at him with a knife.

Carson has previous convictions for attempted residential burglary and misdemeanor sexual battery.