Court upholds conviction in state trooper's death

The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction a Chicago man for the shooting death of a state trooper who came to his aid along a highway.

The court issued a unanimous ruling Thursday in which the justices rejected an appeal from Darryl Jeter. He claimed the trail judge wrongly concluded that defense attorneys challenged prospective jurors because they were white.

A jury in Lake County, Indiana, convicted Jeter of killing Trooper Scott Patrick during a 2003 exchange of gunfire along Interstate 80/94. Jeter had pulled the stolen car he was driving over near a Gary exit ramp, and Patrick responded to a trucker's call about a vehicle in distress.

Jeter was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.