Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Jacksonville, FL: Death it is, jury says: Man killed ex-girlfriend in Jacksonville, later got in shootout with police

Death it is, jury says: Man killed ex-girlfriend in Jacksonville, later got in shootout with police

Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2010-06-30/story/death-it-jury-says-man-killed-ex-girlfriend-jacksonville-later-got

By Kate Howard
A jury has recommended the death penalty for Justin Ryan McMillian in the January 2009 shooting death of his ex-girlfriend Danielle DeAnn Stubbs.

Stubbs, 26, had recently broken off her relationship with McMillian and was shot twice — once in the head — in her Pineverde Lane home in Jacksonville. McMillian, 26, testified in the death-penalty case that he fired two shots in a dark bedroom after Stubbs told him she killed his unborn child.

A couple of days later, he was being watched as part of the homicide investigation and jumped from a car and fired at officers, striking a police car twice on Firestone Drive. McMillian was shot multiple times while still firing his weapon, but survived.

McMillian was convicted of first-degree murder on June 17. The jury voted 10-2 Wednesday in favor of the death penalty after deliberating about 25 minutes, Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda said.

“He was given opportunities to turn his life around,” de la Rionda said. “Despite that, he went and brutally killed this beautiful 26-year-old woman, an innocent lady.”

Judge David Gooding must now decide whether to accept the recommendation or sentence McMillian to life in prison.�

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