17 November 2017 :

A Philadelphia County jury has re-sentenced former death-row prisoner Robert Lark to life in prison. The Philadelphia District Attorney's office had sought the death penalty against Lark 38 years after his first trial. On July 30, 2012, Lark's habeas petition was granted in Federal District Court (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ) with his convictions being vacated because prosecutors had unconstitutionally exercised their discretionary jury strikes to remove African Americans from jury service because of their race. Lark was convicted of killing Tae Bong Cho on December 28, 1978 during a robbery in a takeaway restaurant. Lark was captured within minutes after the robbery. Lark was sentenced to death in Philadelphia County on June 28, 1985.