20 February 2017 :

Norris Speed has been given a new sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. Atlanta-Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said in a news release that Speed agreed to the new punishment to avoid another possible death sentence during a new penalty hearing ordered by an appellate judge. Speed, 45, Black, was Sentenced to death on October 7, 1993 in the December 21, 1991 murder of officer Niles Johantgen. But an appeals judge threw out Speed's death sentence in 2010, ruling a sheriff's deputy gave improper advice to the trial jury. At a hearing Thursday, prosecutors agreed not to seek a new death sentence for Speed if he would accept life without parole.