NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – A jury recommended the death penalty Monday for a former drug dealer who ordered the killings of an 8-year-old boy and his mother in 1999 in Bridgeport.

Russell Peeler Jr. was convicted in 2000 of directing his younger brother to kill Karen Clarke and her son, Leroy “B.J.” Brown Jr., in their Bridgeport duplex. They were gunned down in their apartment. The boy was expected to be the key witness against Peeler in the fatal shooting of Clarke’s boyfriend.

“We’re very pleased,” prosecutor Jonathan Benedict said. “It’s a sobering thought. It was a tough case. I really appreciate the jury.”

Peeler will be sentenced Dec. 8. He will be the ninth person on Connecticut’s death row.

The six men and six women on the jury has deliberated since Wednesday in Superior Court in Bridgeport.

“I think we all felt the evidence was very overwhelming in this case,” juror Rosalyn Hill, 61, told The Associated Press. “I feel Mr. Peeler has gotten a very fair verdict, carefully considered and fair.”

Hill said it was a difficult decision, noting that a man’s life was at stake. She said some jurors wanted to know if a life sentence was possible even though they agreed that aggravating factors outweighed mitigating factors, but she said they were persuaded that under the law the death penalty applies.

“We could have had a hung jury but we didn’t,” Hill said.

Peeler has been in prison since his arrest a few weeks after the killings and was convicted of capital felony.

A previous jury deadlocked on the death penalty. Peeler’s brother, Adrian, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, despite being the accused shooter. Adrian Peeler was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

“Russell was the engineer of the entire thing,” Benedict said. “But for Russell it wouldn’t have happened.”

A telephone message was left for Russell Peeler’s attorney, Jeffrey Beck.

Beck told the jury during opening statements that his client should not receive the death penalty when the man accused of being the actual shooter did not. Russell Peeler has three children whose loss would be compounded if he were put to death, Beck said.

Before opening statements, a judge dismissed two jurors who said they were concerned because their names were published in a newspaper story about the case. One said she was concerned about retaliation while the other was worried about her children.

AP-ES-10-15-07 1724EDT