USA - Florida. The Florida Supreme Court has overturned the 2011 death sentence of Michael Mulugetta Yacob

The Florida Supreme Court has overturned the 2011 death sentence of Michael Mulugetta Yacob, 28. Mulugetta Yacob will be resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the May 4, 2008 1st-degree murder of Moussa Maida, 19, during a robbery at Maida's family-owned convenience store. In a ruling released today, the Supreme Court said Maida’s murder was not proportionate to other cases in which the death sentence has been upheld. Prosecutors pursued the death penalty for Yacob even though the only qualifying factor that justified death was the fact that the murder had been committed during the commission of a felony, in this case, the robbery of the convenience store. "In fact, we conclude after careful review that this case is indistinguishable from other cases involving the single aggravator of a murder during the commission of a robbery where we have vacated the death penalty," the Supreme Court said. "Accordingly, we vacate Yacob’s death sentence and remand for imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole." When sentencing Yacob to death, Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud said death-penalty sentences are usually not upheld when there is only one qualifying factor, but he argued that the case of Yacob was different because there was a security video that showed the robbery and murder. Maida could be heard struggling to breathe dying on the floor after being shot. That video eliminated many of the uncertainties that exist in other murder cases, Soud said. "This is not a case of a robbery gone bad," Soud said. "This is not a case of things going out of control. This is the case of a man who made a conscious decision to end the life of a 19-year-old boy."In the video, Yacob fired his gun after Maida had locked himself inside the cashier’s booth and locked Yacob into the store with the police on their way. The murder occurred in 2008, but Yacob was wearing a mask and was not arrested until 2010 when DNA from the crime scene linked him to the crime. (see also October 18 and December 5, 2011)