CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
MIAMI (AP) — A Florida jury has convicted a man prosecutors called the ringleader of a botched 2007 Miami-area burglary that ended with the fatal shooting of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.
The 12-person jury deliberated nearly four hours Tuesday before finding 25-year-old Jason Mitchell guilty of first-degree felony murder and armed burglary. Trial testimony indicated that Mitchell hatched the plot for five Fort Myers-area men to burglarize Taylor’s home near Miami after previously seeing large amounts of cash there.
The judge immediately imposed the mandatory life sentence for murder, plus 40 more years for the burglary conviction.
The man who authorities say fired the fatal shot, Eric Rivera Jr., was convicted last fall of second-degree murder and sentenced to 57 years behind bars.
Two other men await trial. A third has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and burglary.
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