Judge J

Judge J. Rogers Padgett overrode a 10-2 jury decision for the death penalty and gave Alfred Harris life in prison despite a jury's 10-2 vote for death in February for killing Raymond Brooks, 71, on June 25, 1987. ". . . This killing is not one of the most wicked of the wicked for which the death penalty is reserved," Padgett wrote in his order. The undisputed depravity of the killer's youth also tilted the judge toward mercy.