The Travis County jury that last week gave probation to a store clerk convicted of murder for killing a beer thief should not have been given the option of sentencing the clerk to anything less than five years in prison, a judge said Wednesday.

The Texas Legislature took away from juries the ability to sentence murder defendants to probation in 2007. Juan Romero, 24, fatally shot 22-year-old Jorge Vielma at a South Austin Shell station in 2009.

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