Inmate's family wanted 'jury of different colors'

BARTOW (FOX 13) - The family of convicted murderer Terrence Barnett is speaking out about what a jury recommended earlier this week.

By a vote of seven to five, jurors said Barnett should die for the death of Polk County detention Sgt. Ronnie Brown.

"That was never his intention to kill him; never," Barnett's sister, Tytania King, told FOX 13.

Polk's sheriff vehemently disagrees.

"Because of his actions, Sgt. Barnett is dead,"  said Grady Judd. "He earned it. He deserves it, and he should get it."

Investigators say Barnett shoved Brown during a jailhouse scuffle. Brown died a week and a half later.

Barnett was in jail because of his involvement with a murder in Highlands County.  A man was tied, beaten and his house was set on fire.

King says has a problem with the jury recommendation and the makeup of the all-white jury.

"It should have been a jury of different colors," King said. 

A judge is expected to make a final decision of life or death in about a month.