Friday, January 30, 2009

Fla. justices uphold cop killer's death sentence

Florida : A death row inmate who killed a Lake County sheriff's deputy has lost an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

The justices unanimously upheld Jason Wheeler's murder conviction and death sentence Thursday.

Wheeler fatally shot Deputy Wayne Koester in 2005
when the deputy responded to a domestic violence call from Wheeler's girlfriend.

The justices also upheld Wheeler's attempted murder conviction for shooting 2 other deputies who survived.

Wheeler was shot and paralyzed from the neck down when captured after a manhunt in the Ocala National Forest.

He claimed Satan and drugs led him to ambush the deputies with a sawed-off
shotgun.

(source: Associated Press)

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