USA - Florida. At the end of the repetition of a death penalty trial, a jury sentenced Richard M. Cooper to life in

At the end of the repetition of a death penalty trial, a Pinellas County jury recommended Richard M. Cooper, 50, White, be sentenced to life in prison. Cooper was sentenced to death in 1984 in the June 18, 1982, slayings of Steven Fridella, Bobby Martindale and Gary Petersen during a robbery gone awry. On July 21, 2011 (see) the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the sentence, saying members of the jury that recommended the death sentence may have voted differently had they known the extent of the physical, emotional and psychological abuse Cooper suffered as a child. Today the jury vote was split at 6-6, and prosecutors in Florida need at least 7 jurors for a recommendation of death. Pinellas Circuit Judge Keith Meyer is required to give the life recommendation great weight before he sentences Cooper at a later date. Jurors had to make a recommendation for each of the 3 men shot, and voted 6-6 in each case.