Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

The task of saving the life of Lance Armstrong, a Jamaican on death row in Florida, has been made even more difficult, following a jury's recommendation that he be put to death.

On April 25, the jury in the Broward County court, in a 9-3 majority decision, called for Armstrong's execution for the 1990 murder of Broward Sheriff's Deputy John 'Jack' Greene.

In 2003, the Florida Supreme Court threw out an earlier death sentence, but the prosecutors, in an unrelenting fight, succeeded in securing the second such sentence for the Jamaican.

Bitterly disappointed

Armstrong's lawyer, David Rowe, while bitterly disappointed at the jury's recommendation, expects the appeal process to continue, possibly for another three years - to Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal;the Florida Supreme Court and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court.

Before the start of that process, there will be a sentencing hearing on June 15, when members of the defendant's family will be given an opportunity to give mitigating statements on his behalf, in a bid to convince the sentencing judge not to confirm the death penalty.

It was at 2:00 a.m. on February 17, 1990, that Armstrong and another man, Ercely Wayne Coleman, with whom he worked, entered a Church's Fried Chicken Restaurant. A robbery and shoot-out with the police ensued, during which Officer Greeney was shot dead.

Armstrong has always maintained that he was never part of the robbery, but was framed. Nevertheless, he was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder in 1991.