USA - Alabama. Judge overrides jury, and imposes death sentence on Jeffrey Riggs

Judge overrides jury, and imposes death sentence. Circuit Judge Clyde Jones sentenced Jeffrey Riggs, 40, to death despite a jury's recommendation of a life sentence without parole for the January 10, 2008 shooting death of Norber Lea Payne, his estranged girlfriend. In the Riggs case, they jury recommended the life in prison by a 10-2 vote. Judge Jones made his decision based upon three factors: (1) The accused shot the victim while she slept in bed, with no possible chance to defend herself or to flee. (2) The size of the weapon, a .50 calibre, which the judge said was the largest handgun he had seen in his 30 years on the bench. (3) Since the trial had shown the victim had been threatened by the accused after she had begun dating another man, the judge deemed that this was an execution based on the idea, "If I can't have her, no one else will either."