The Sussex County jury deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours before recommending 7-5 on Wednesday that 24-year-old Derrick Powell of Cumberland, Md., be executed for the 2009 shooting of patrolman Chad Spicer.
Spicer was shot as he sat in a police cruiser following the pursuit of a car carrying Powell and two other men. The pursuit began after Powell shot at a drug dealer he was trying to rob in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.
Defense attorneys argued that Powell should be spared the death penalty because he is brain-damaged and the victim of chronic child abuse.
A judge will sentence Powell on May 20.
