San Diego

The jury that convicted a former Baptist minister of killing a liquor store clerk by torture recommended Monday that he be put to death.

After 14 hours of deliberations, the jury issued its penalty-phase recommendation against Terry Bemore, 34, of Los Angeles.

The jury convicted Bemore of first-degree murder in June for the Aug. 26, 1985, death of clerk Kenneth Muck, 55, who was stabbed 37 times in the El Cajon Boulevard store.

Bemore was also convicted of robbing Muck and burglarizing the store. The jury found that special circumstances criteria were met because the murder involved torture and followed a robbery.

San Diego Superior Court Judge David Gill will sentence Bemore on Oct. 20. He can follow the jury’s recommendation or impose a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

Bemore was a Baptist minister and a police officer on a probationary basis in Palo Alto many years ago, said his attorney, C. Logan McKechnie.

Another jury recommended that a life sentence without parole be imposed upon Bemore’s co-defendant, Keith Cosby, 29, whom it convicted of killing Muck and another clerk, Fred Harb, 49, at an AM/PM mini-market June 1, 1985. Cosby was tried separately and was convicted Oct. 28.