Circuit Judge Roger Alcott's sentence was the first death penalty handed down in Polk County in five years. Nine other men sentenced in Polk are on Florida's death row.

Blake, 25, of Lakeland, was convicted in February of the Aug. 12, 2002, murder and attempted armed robbery of Winter Haven store owner Maheshkumar Patel, 37, who was trying to lock out would-be robbers when he was shot through a glass door.

Blake is serving a life sentence for killing a Lakeland man during an armed robbery 11 days earlier. Even though the jury in that case decided Blake did not fire the gun used to kill Kelvin Young, 35, he was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted robbery, and Alcott sentenced him to life in prison.

A co-defendant in the Patel killing, Richard Green, was sentenced to life.

Alcott's written ruling weighed several factors for and against imposing the death penalty, but the greatest weight was given to the previous murder conviction.

It is plausible that when Blake shot through the store door about 6 a.m. and left, ``he did not realize that his shot was fatal,'' but that was not enough to outweigh Blake's prior crime, Alcott said.

``In the end, I've concluded, and agree with the jury, that death is the appropriate penalty in this case,'' Alcott said. The same jury that convicted Blake voted unanimously in April to recommend a death sentence.

Blake closed his eyes briefly as Alcott pronounced the sentence but did not show any strong emotion.

A member of Patel's family who attended the sentencing declined to comment.

Blake's court-appointed attorney, Gil Colon Jr., said the sentence will be appealed. Alcott appointed the public defender's office to handle the appeal since Colon does not handle appellate cases.

Colon said Blake's conviction in the Young murder, which happened after Blake's first two trials on that charge ended in mistrials, also is on appeal.

``If that first case gets reversed,'' it could affect the sentence given Friday, Colon said.

Micah Louis Nelson, of Avon Park, was the last person sent from Polk County to death row.

Circuit Judge Michael Hunter sentenced Nelson in 2000 to death for the 1997 rape, kidnapping and beating death of Virginia Brace, 78. Brace was abducted from her winter home in Avon Park, placed in the trunk of her car and driven around for hours before being killed in a citrus grove in southeast Polk.

Reporter Cheryl N. Schmidt can be reached at (863) 683-6531.