RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A state appeals court has upheld the capital murder conviction of a Chesterfield man in the 2013 slaying of a state trooper who was gunned down along an interstate highway.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a three-judge panel of the Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Russell E. Brown III in the fatal shooting of Trooper Junius Walker. Prosecutors said Walker was shot after he pulled alongside Brown’s disabled vehicle on Interstate 85 in Dinwiddie County to see if he needed help.
Brown shot the 63-year-old trooper four times in his police cruiser.
Jurors at Brown’s 2016 trial sided with prosecutors in convicting him of capital murder, but heeded a defense plea for mercy by recommending a sentence of life in prison instead of death.
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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com