SAN ANTONIO (August 25, 2012)—Bexar County jurors opted for life in prison without parole rather than the death penalty for a San Antonio man convicted of capital murder in the 2010 death of an Air Force recruit who was killed a purse snatching.
The jury deliberated less than a half hour Friday before rejecting the death penalty for Lorenzo Leroy Thompson, 23, in the death of recruit Vanessa Marie Pitts, 25.
Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.
Thompson and other witnesses testified Pitts was pumping gas when Thompson tried to steal her purse.
Pitts ran after him and jumped on the stolen pickup truck he was driving in an attempt to recover the purse.
After swerving to try to shake her from the truck, Thompson drove toward another vehicle to knock her off.
