Death Row Gets Another Visitor

For the first time since 1954, [a convicted murderer has been sentenced to death in a federal case in New York yesterday]. Ronell Wilson, 24, was found guilty of killing two policemen in Staten Island back in 2003—it took all of two days for the jury to find him guilty of murder, robbery, carjacking and firearms charges, and to sentence him to death by lethal injection. Wilson shot undercover police officers Rodney Andrews and James Nemorin from behind as he sat in their car during a weapons sting. Prosecutors argued that he knew his victims were cops, but the defense claims there’s no evidence to support such a claim. [Wilson responded to his death sentence  by sticking his tongue out at the widow of one of the officers he killed](http://www.nypost.com/seven/01312007/news/regionalnews/fry_baby_regionalnews_stefanie_cohen.htm). A 2004 state court ruling suspended New York’s death penalty so federal prosecutors took Wilson’s case out of state. Nationwide, there are less than 50 inmates on death row. But if juries become more lovey-dovey with the death penalty, that number is sure to change.