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Following error, convicted Tarpon Springs cop killer sentenced to life instead of death

Not all jurors selected death on a verdict form, although the jury foreperson announced the death penalty as the verdict.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Marco Antonio Parilla Jr. was initially sentenced to die.

Many in the Pinellas County courtroom cheered after the unanimous decision was announced.

But then Pinellas County Judge Joseph A. Bulone noticed that not every juror checked death on a verdict form.

When the jury returned an updated form, the vote was 10-2 for death.

Without an unanimous decision, Parilla will spend the rest of his life in prison.

The 27-year-old shot and killed Tarpon Springs police officer Charles Kondek, 45, seven times with a stolen .40-caliber Glock pistol on Dec. 21, 2014, after the 17-year veteran responded to a noise complaint at the Glen's Eureka Apartments.

Parilla then ran Kondek over with his vehicle.

"I'm truly, honestly sorry for what I've done to cause pain and hurt in your life, " Parilla said to Kondek's wife in court last week.

Kondek's wife, Theresa, spoke to Parilla following Friday's verdict, recalling the moment when she found out her husband was dead.

"I couldn't think. I was completely numb," she said. "I just remember feeling like air was too hard to breathe. I wanted my husband, and I wanted to hear that the person who shot him was dead too. But here you are. You get life."

Here's more of what she told Parilla:

Parilla, previously convicted of 11 felonies, was released from prison just nine months before killing Charles Kondek.

Parilla pleaded guilty to killing Kondek late last year.

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