Timothy L. Allen, who spent 20 years on death row for killing...

Timothy L. Allen, who spent 20 years on death row for killing a state highway patrol trooper was sentenced to life in prison.
Allen was sentenced to death in 1985 for the May 14, 1985 killing of Trooper Raymond Worley during a traffic stop.
The Halifax County jury deliberated about 5 hours before returning the life sentence.
Allen had received his last meal Dec. 12, 1997, when the appeals court stopped the execution.
The court said prosecutors used their peremptory challenges to keep 11 blacks off the jury panel. Those challenges allow lawyers to reject jurors without stating why. Allen's jury had 6 white and 6 blacks. Allen is black, the victim was white.
On Feb. 5, 2003 (see) The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., agreed that both statistical and circumstantial evidence showed that prosecutors had used their peremptory challenges to exclude blacks from the jury. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the resentencing in 2004.