FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing a fast food restaurant manager a decade ago has avoided the death penalty.
The Sun Sentinel reports that a Broward County jury recommended life in prison Friday for 30-year-old Karari Ritchie. He was convicted in February of first-degree murder. A jury's recommendation for death must be unanimous.
Investigators said Ritchie and his brother posed as job applicants in 2009 at an Oakland Park Taco Bell, where 39-year-old Tikkitress Johnson was the manager. Ritchie stabbed Johnson 86 times during a robbery.
Defense lawyer Rachel Newman says Ritchie was abused by his mother as a child.
