Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill was murdered in 2012. (Photo: Brevard County Sheriff's Office)
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the death penalty for the man convicted of killing Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
The high court ruled that because the jury did not unanimously vote for the death penalty, the defendant must be resentenced.
A Brevard County jury in 2014 convicted Brandon Lee Bradley of murdering Pill. A hotel employee had called 911, complaining that Bradley had stolen an air conditioning unit and linens, and Pill spotted his SUV and pulled him over.
She walked to the door of his vehicle and repeatedly asked him to get out, but he refused and began to inch the SUV forward. When Pill reached into the vehicle to pull the keys from the ignition, he opened fire. She was shot five times.
The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of 10-2.
The Florida Supreme Court in November ruled that for any death sentence to be constitutional, all 12 members of a jury must vote for it.
On Thursday, it upheld Bradley's murder conviction but ruled that he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing.
