Lawyers want new trial for convicted killer

Galante Phillips sentenced to death for 2005 murder in Jacksonville

Department of Corrections photo of Galante Phillips

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man convicted and sentenced to death for killing a 40-year-old man who tried to intervene in the robbery of a co-worker wants a new trial.

Lawyers for Galante Phillips are arguing that he is intellectually disabled and his conviction and sentence should be thrown out.

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Phillips was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Christopher Aligada, who was shot twice during an robbery attempt in Jacksonville in the parking lot of Builders First Source on Roosevelt Boulevard in October 2005.

The same jury that convicted Phillips voted 7-5 to recommend the death penalty, and Judge Mallory Cooper accepted that recommendation in her sentencing in September 2008.

When Phillips was sentenced, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda consoled the victim's mother and called Aligada a hero.

The Florida Supreme Court has previously upheld Phillips' conviction and sentence.