Death Penalty or Life? Convicted Ga. Cop Killer Sentenced

Convicted cop killer Jamie Hood will not have to face the death penalty for murdering an Athens, Ga., police officer in 2011, a Clarke County jury decided Friday.

The jury, which took two hours to reach a decision, decided Hood should be sentenced to life without parole, according multiple media outlets.

Hood, who never denied killing Officer Elmer “Buddy” Christian nor wounding Officer Tony Howard on March 22, 2011, acted as his own lawyer during the month-long trial, believed to be the first time a defendant in Georgia has represented himself in a death penalty case, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He argued that the shootings were self-defense because his younger brother had been killed by police nearly 15 years ago.

On Monday, Hood was convicted on 36 of the 70 charges he faced, including murdering Kenneth Omari Wray in December, 2010, in a separate incident, WXIA-TV reported

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Hood also denied killing Wray, and said they were friends. But the jury found him guilty on Monday of shooting Wray six times on Dec. 28, 2010, because Wray wouldn’t tell him where to find a particular drug dealer, the AJC reported.

On March 22, 2011, Howard pulled over an SUV in which Hood was a passenger in order to question Hood and others about an incident earlier in the day in which a man was kidnapped and robbed, Patch reported at the time.

Hood allegedly shot Howard in the face and upper body and then ran from the scene, supposedly shooting Christian who arrived to provide back-up. Hood was apprehended after a four-day search for him that spanned into neighboring counties.

Hood, whose younger brother was shot and killed by police in 2001, told the jury he heard his brother’s voice when he fired at the officers telling him not to let them “do to you what they did to me,” according to media reports. The AJC reported Hood claimed to have a bad past with Howard after an armed robbery charge more than a decade ago.

The trial drew extensive media coverage -- it was streamed live on some websites -- over the past month. While the trial was held in Athens, the jury was assembled in Elbert County due to pre-trial publicity.

Photos: Officer “Buddy” Christian; Jamie Hood mug shot (Patch file photos).