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Man sentenced for 1990 Titusville murder to be re-sentenced

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A man serving life in prison for a murder that was committed in 1990 when he was only 16 will now be re-sentenced.

Jerome Allen, now 37, was the youngest man on Florida's death row when he was convicted in the murder of Titusville store clerk Stephen Dumont. The murder conviction, however, has since been commuted to life in prison, and Allen still faces a life sentence for the robbery.

But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that juveniles could not be sentenced to life without parole for non-capital offenses.

Prosecutors said Allen's murder conviction will stand, but since he was minor when he was convicted of the robbery and it wasn't a capital offense, he'll have to be re-sentenced. Allen made his initial re-sentencing appearance Friday at the Brevard County Jail.

Dumont didn't die immediately from the shotgun blast in December 1990 and lived long enough to help identify his teenage attackers.

Allen wasn't the trigger man in the crime, but his role was large enough for him to be sentenced to two consecutive life terms for robbery and murder.

"He did instruct the person who did the shooting to kill the individual. That's my recollection," said Assistant State Attorney Gary Beatty.

Because Allen's sentences were consecutive, if he were ever granted parole for murder, he would still have to serve out his robbery sentence.

A judge must now determine how long that sentence will be.

"We're obviously asking for consecutive sentences this time as well," said Beatty.

Allen has another court date coming up next month.