Stop the Music: Life Sentence for Stealing CDs

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

(CBS/AP)

CONROE, Texas (CBS/AP) The jury's lesson to a paroled killer caught shoplifting five CD's from a Wal-Mart department store was clear. Don't mess with Texas. They gave him life in jail, according to the Houston Chronicle.

A Montgomery County jury on Thursday sentenced 43-year-old Brian Keith Balentine, whose criminal history was presented during the penalty phase.

Prosecutors say the robbery conviction involved a March 2008 theft in which an officer was slightly injured trying to stop Balentine.

Days earlier, Balentine had completed a 30-day jail term in Harris County for theft, one of three theft cases he faced since his 2006 parole.

But Balentine was also convicted of the 1984 slaying of Leroy Larson. The victim was fatally shot after stopping to help Balentine, who appeared to be having car trouble in Freestone County.

Defense attorney Earl Pryor said he was shocked at the life prison sentence.

More At The Houston Chronicle

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by fueildoasije July 20, 2009 3:32 PM EDT: A guy who would shoot to death a good samaritan who stopped to offer him help after he broke down on the highway deserves to never breathe a free lungful of air again. I don't know how he ever got out of prison in the first place, but, clearly, his guy was headed towards eventually killing someone again. Glad he's off the streets. Now, I wonder how long a "life" sentence really is?; Reply to this comment