Death penalty off the table for Antwoine Noland

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Alicia Fussell never got a chance to tell a jury her story. She was shot dead while in her car in the parking lot of Tampa business.

Prosecutors say Antwoine Noland did it and Fussell was set to testify against him for shooting her in the foot months earlier.

Fussell's husband, Grady Fussell told us Noland had been trying to bribe her for her silence.

"He just a coward because why would you want to do that to a woman?" Fussell asked.

Noland then went on the run with his teenage girlfriend, who was later reported missing by her family. Police found him a few days later, hiding out in a Tampa hotel room.

Noland has since pleaded guilty to assaulting Fussell, but now he faces a first-degree murder charge for her death. And the State Attorneys Office has decided not to seek the death penalty.

The new state attorney, Andrew Warren has signaled a more limited use of the death penalty than his predecessor.

Recently Warren's office dropped the death penalty for Lawrence Bongiovanni . He's accused of hiding in a 7-Eleven bathroom and then shooting the clerk to death.

But not all defendants are dodging the ultimate punishment.

Steven Lorenzo is accused of drugging, torturing, and killing two gay men with his co-conspirator, Scott Schweickert. He may face the death penalty if convicted. Schweickert took a deal to avoid death row and got life in prison.

Other high-profile defendants like Nicole Nachtman, whose accused of killing her parents, and Marisol Best, who cops say killed her in-laws, have filed motions to get the death penalty off the table.

But as of now, both are still being prosecuted as death penalty cases.

Rena Frazier, spokesperson for the State Attorneys Office released this statement:

"We review each capitol case thoroughly to make sure we are seeking the death penalty on the most atrocious and heinous cases, considered the worst of the worst in our society. The Noland case was not one of those cases," Frazier said.