Sentence Upheld for Convenience Store Clerk Who Killed Thief

A federal trial court properly applied a cross reference for second-degree murder in sentencing a convenience store clerk—whose gun discharged while he was beating a shoplifter on the head, and killed him—for possessing a firearm while unlawfully present in the US, a federal appeals court ruled.

Taleb Jawher, who is a Jordanian citizen, sought to upend his 109 month sentence, arguing that the court should instead have applied a manslaughter cross reference because the evidence didn’t show malice as required for second-degree murder.

Rejecting the argument, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said “the use of potentially ...