The man convicted of murdering an Anniston police officer has been sentenced to death.

In September, a Lee County jury found 27-year old Joshua Russell guilty of shooting and killing officer Justin Sollohub.

Those jurors voted 8-4 to recommend life in prison without parole.

However, Calhoun County circuit judge Brian Howell disagreed with the jury’s recommendation following a hearing Monday morning.

Sollohub’s mother, Jeniffer Morris, said the death sentence was exactly what she and her family wanted.

Dozens of members of law enforcement attended Monday’s hearing.

Alabama attorney general Luther Strange was also in the courtroom for the sentencing.

Officer Sollohub had stopped Russell on August 24th of 2011for an outstanding warrant and was patting him down – when the suspect ran and ended up shooting the officer in the head with a .22 caliber pistol during the foot chase; Sollohub died the following day.

Russell has a prior criminal record having been sentenced back in 2009 to five years in prison for four convictions on drug distribution and obstruction of justice; he was granted early release after serving just over a year of his sentence.

(ABC/3340)

[Photo courtesy of the Anniston Star/www.annistonstar.com]