TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Supreme Court says a man who killed a convenience store clerk during a Jacksonville robbery shouldn't have been sentenced to death.
The ruling Thursday said that Michael Yacob shouldn't have received a death sentence simply for a murder during a robbery gone wrong.
Yacob killed Moussa Maida during a May 2008 robbery. Yacob had put his gun in his pocket and was leaving the store when Maida hit a switch that locked the store's doors, trapping Yacob inside.
Maida then locked himself in the cashier's booth. That's when Yacob shot Maida through the thick glass.
The court said that Yacob didn't enter the store with the intention of killing anyone and that the sentence was too harsh. Instead, the court ordered Yacob to be sentenced to life without parole.
