Puerto Rico jury deliberates death-penalty case

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A jury in Puerto Rico is deciding whether a convicted drug dealer should be executed for killing a girlfriend who was an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

It could be a landmark case for the U.S. territory, where the death penalty is constitutionally illegal and where the last execution occurred in 1927 by hanging.

The case against Edison Burgos Montes is being tried in a federal court, which allows for the death penalty. If the jury deliberating today sentences Burgos to death, he would be executed on the U.S. mainland.

Burgos was found guilty in late August of killing Madelyn Semidey in July 2005.

Puerto Rico juries previously rejected death sentences for federal cases in 2005 and 2006.