Convict who murdered University of Miami football player, ex-girlfriend in jealous rage sentenced to life in prison over death row
The convicted killer who murdered his ex-girlfriend and University of Miami linebacker Marlin Barnes in a “jealous rage” had his death row sentence reversed and will spend the rest of his life behind bars, sparking outrage from the victims’ loved ones.Labrant Dennis was sentenced to life in prison without parole in a Miami-Dade courtroom on Thursday, nearly 30 years after he was convicted in the bludgeoning deaths of Barnes and Timwanika Lumpkins inside the football player’s campus apartment, NBC Miami reported.Dennis was convicted of the double murders in 1998 and spent nearly two decades on death row before he was granted a new sentencing trial by the Florida Supreme Court in 2017 due to constitutional issues with the state’s death penalty.His death sentence — imposed after a non-unanimous jury recommendation in 1999 — was later ruled unconstitutional.Florida’s death penalty rules have shifted since Dennis’s first sentencing.
Under the latest law, a judge can impose death if eight jurors agree.Despite prosecutors urging jurors to recommend Dennis be executed again, his defense attorneys pleaded with jurors to spare the killer’s life since he’s shown good behavior for the last 30 years.“He’s done almost 30 years in prison,” one of Dennis’s attorneys, Terrance Lenamon, told the jury.“He is not the same man who was involved in these killings.”The jury’s decision to spare Dennis’s life sent shockwaves through the courtroom as Barnes’ family was left heartbroken by the verdict.“I’m not getting my kid back anyway,” Barnes’ mother, Charlie Postell, told the Miami Herald, adding that her son’s killer will now only have to face the Lord’s judgment for the heinous murders.Barnes’ sister, Charlisia Preston, reiterated her mother’s feelings and said Dennis “ruined our life” when he killed her brother.“He can escape man, but he can’t escape the judgment God has for him,” Preston said.
“He will suffer.”The ...