Jurors deliberate fate of Bellaire officer's killer

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Defense attorneys in the capital murder trial of Harlem Lewis asked jurors to spare their clients life as they deliberate his sentence for killing an officer and a good Samaritan.

Lewis, 23, was convicted of killing Bellaire officer Jimmie Norman and bystander Terry Taylor during a routine traffic stop on Christmas Eve in 2012. Jurors must now decide whether to sentence Lewis to death or give him life in prison without parole.

In closing arguments Monday, defense attorneys told the jury the death penalty is for the worst of the worst and their client is not it.

"Killing someone leaves a stain on you," defense attorney Tyrone Moncriffe told the jury, "Harlem Lewis is going to die in prison. You don't have to do that. You don't have to put a stain on you."

But prosecutors allege Lewis had every intent to kill and deserves to be sent to death row.

Prosecutor Devon Anderson said, "When somebody doesn't have remorse, life without parole is a gift they get to keep on living."

The jury did not decide on the sentencing by 5:30pm Monday so a judge sequestered them and is making them stay at a hotel overnight.