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Death penalty won't be sought in San Bernardino jeweler slaying

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) Prosecutors have dropped the death penalty as a possible punishment for a man accused of murdering a jewelry store owner during a robbery.

Deputy District Attorney David Whitney said Tuesday the decision was made after reviewing the case against Jad Issa Salem, 22, who was charged with the 1999 murder of Marshall Adams.

Prosecutors have alleged Salem killed Adams, 74, on Dec. 2, 1999, while robbing and burglarizing the retired school teacher's San Bernardino jewelry store.

Salem was arrested last October, nearly two years after Adams was killed, when police matched a hand print using a nationwide fingerprint data base, prosecutors said.

Salem was arrested in Texas on marijuana possession charges soon after the Dec. 2, 1999 killing. Prints from that arrest were later connected to Adams' killing, prosecutors said.

Although investigators have said they believe more than one person was involved in the murder, no other suspects have been identified.

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