A Madison County judge this morning sentenced a man to death for killing a Huntsville police officer in 2019.

Last November, a jury recommended death for LaJeromeny Brown by a vote of 10-2. Brown admitted to shooting and killing Billy Clardy III on Dec. 6, 2019, during an undercover drug operation in north Huntsville.

WAAY reported the sentence Friday morning. A jury found him guilty of capital murder in October.

Brown, a Chattanooga man, was in Huntsville that day to sell 100 pounds of marijuana. The drug task force set up the operation at an abandoned north Huntsville house on Levert Street.

Brown shot and killed Clardy as the officer moved in to take Brown into custody from a hidden position in the house. Brown immediately fled the scene and other task force officers captured him after a brief foot chase about a block from the house.

Brown contended during testimony that he did not realize Clardy was a police officer.

Clardy’s father, Billy Clardy Jr., died while on duty as a Huntsville police officer in a car accident in 1978.