For the first time in 5 years, a South Carolina jury sends a criminal to death row
The prosecution said Jerome Jenkins was a cold killer who shot a store clerk to death after the worker gave up the store's money.
The prosecution said Jerome Jenkins was a cold killer who shot a store clerk to death after the worker gave up the store's money.
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina jury has sent someone to death row for the first time in five years.
A Horry County jury sentenced Jerome Jenkins to death Thursday for killing a worker at a Conway convenience store in a January 2015 robbery.
News outlets report Jenkins' lawyer asked for mercy, saying every man in his family was either dead or in prison. Attorney Ralph Wilson said sparing Jenkins' life might save his son.
Prosecutor Jimmy Richardson said Jenkins was a cold killer who shot Balla Paruchuri as he walked out the door after the worker gave up the store's money.
Jenkins is the first murderer sent to South Carolina death row since Ricky Blackwell in 2014. Blackwell killed an 8-year-old girl to get back at his ex-wife in Spartanburg County.
(Below: Former death row inmate working with Oprah on movie about his wrongful conviction)