A jury Tuesday recommended the death penalty in the case of a man who shot and killed a Riverside police officer after a traffic in November 2010.
Sentencing for Earl Ellis Green, convicted May 11 of first-degree murder in the death of Officer Ryan Patrick Bonaminio, was scheduled for June 25.
Bonaminio encountered Green during a traffic stop Nov. 7, 2010. The 27-year-old Iraq war Army veteran was attempting to arrest Green after he fled the scene of a hit-and-run on Market Street. Green was in a stolen semi-trailer truck at the time.
Green fled through Fairmount Park, into the parking lot of the nearby Center for Spiritual Living on Ridge Road. As Bonaminio caught the defendant, the officer lost his footing in a freshly watered planter and fell in the mud.
Green pounced on the lawman, smashing him in the head with a steel pipe. The defendant then grabbed the severely injured officer's .40-caliber Glock pistol and, as Bonaminio faced him with his hands in front of his face, Green shot him in the head at point-blank range.
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