By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham, AL – A Jefferson County jury has recommended a life sentence for admitted drug dealer and convicted police killer Kerry Spencer. Jurors made the recommendation Wednesday, after two and a half days of deliberations. The 25-year-old was convicted Sunday on three counts of capital murder and one charge of attempted murder for last year's shooting deaths of three Birmingham police officers. The attack killed officers Curly Owen; Charles Robert Bennett; and Harley Chisholm III. Officer Michael Collins survived and testified at the trial. The officers were trying to serve a misdemeanor warrant on Spencer's friend at a drug house when Spencer apparently opened fire with an assault rifle. Circuit Judge Tommy Nail set final sentencing for September. The judge could then either accept the jurors' recommendation for life without parole or sentence Spencer to death.