Pharmacist Gets Life Sentence for Killing Robber

He pumped five bullets into already unconscious victim
By Tim Karan,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 11, 2011 2:40 PM CDT
Pharmacist Receives Life in Prison for Killing Robber
A jury convicted an Oklahoma City pharmacist of first-degree murder, saying he went too far when he pumped six bullets into a teenager who tried to rob his drug store.   (AP Photo/Steve Gooch, Pool)

An Oklahoma pharmacist was sentenced to life in prison today for the shooting death of a teenager who tried to rob his store. Jerome Ersland, 59, was charged with first-degree murder, but will have the possibility of parole, reports MSNBC. As he left the courtroom, Ersland told a reporter the sentence was "an injustice of monumental proportion."

Ersland pulled a gun on two armed robbers in 2009, shot one in the head and then chased the other out of the store. A security camera then caught him go behind the counter, grab another gun, and shoot the wounded teen five more times as he lay unconscious. Defense attorneys argue it was self defense, and say they will appeal. Thousands of supporters signed a petition asking the governor to pardon Ersland, or ease his sentence. (More murder charges stories.)

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