VIRGINIA BEACH-- Wednesday afternoon, a man who killed a police officer in Va. Beach was given a sentence of life in prison.
The judge handed down the sentence about 4:00 p.m. It took him less than 30 minutes to come back with that decision. It's one that spared Ted Carter's life.
Carter pleaded guilty to shooting Det. Michael Phillips during an undercover drug buy in the parking lot of Green Run Square Shopping Center.
Det. Phillips was acting as a drug dealer to buy a half pound of marijuana from Carter's alleged accomplice, Marshall Moyd.
Carter has said he didn't know Phillips was a police officer when he opened fire. That's one reason the judge said he made the decision to give life in prison.... that and he had no felony record before the crime.
Moyd's trial on a first degree murder charge is set for April.
