Oklahoma Man Gets Life Sentence in Shooting Death of Teen Thief

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A pharmacist has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in the shooting death of a teenager who tried to rob the south Oklahoma City store where he worked.

Jerome Ersland had no reaction and said nothing as Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott handed down the sentence Monday.

As the 59-year-old Ersland left the courtroom he told a reporter the sentence is "an injustice of a monumental proportion."

In May, a jury convicted Ersland of first-degree murder in the May 2009 shooting of 16-year-old Antwun Parker.

Defense attorney Irven Box said the conviction and sentence will be appealed.