HOUSTON (AP) _ A jury in Houston has sentenced a man to death for the 2008 shooting death of a police officer after a traffic stop.
Harris County jurors deliberated for about three hours Monday before deciding to send 29-year-old Mabry Joseph Landor III to death row for the death of 43-year-old Officer Timothy Abernethy. Landor was convicted last week of capital murder.
Prosecutors say Abernethy had pulled over Landor for a minor traffic violation when Landor fled. Witnesses testified that while Abernethy pursued him on foot through an apartment complex, Landor ambushed him and shot him.
Landor testified that he fled from Abernethy because he was on parole, but he denied shooting the officer. Landor’s record included convictions for burglary, drunken driving, drug possession and distribution, and assault on a family member with bodily injury.