Ersland Awaiting Monday Sentencing

Jon Jordan, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A jury found pharmacist Jerome Ersland guilty of murder.  Monday, he'll find out if he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Ersland's sentencing comes more than two years after he shot and killed a would-be robber inside the Reliable Pharmacy.

Ersland's attorney, Irven Box doesn't expect the sentencing to go well. "We won't be getting any leniency," he said.

For that reason, Ersland's family is looking past Monday's sentencing.

"You know it could be a minimum of 35 years," Ersland's son, Jeff, said. "He's basically 60 now, so if he does serve the 35, it's basically a death sentence for him."

That's a possibility Jeff Ersland doesn't want to think about. Instead, he has been focusing on the good times his family had.

"Just trying to be upbeat and positive," he said.

Jerome Ersland's many supporters are looking to the future, looking forward to an appeal. None are looking more forward to that than Jeff Ersland.

"I know the appeals process can be rather lengthy. If it's quick, it's 18 months and if the ruling is overturned, he'll probably be in prison maybe two to three years," he said.

Any length of time, however, may be too much for a man who has said in jail house interviews he's already barely making it.

"It's been terrible," Jerome Ersland said from in jail. "They didn't give me my medications I was on and I've been suffering immensely."

In those same jailhouse interviews, Ersland maintains his innocence.

Jeff said his father is not a murderer, but admitted that his dad may have gone too far.

"The additional five shots were excessive, but it's hard to say because the whole thing happened in less than a minute," he said. "I still try to think, at the end of the day, he was a guy working at his place of employment and due to the actions of other people, he's in jail right now. And if that didn't happen, I have all the confidence in the world he would still be working and living his life like normal."

Ersland's attorney said he has ten days from tomorrow to file an appeal, but that it has already been drafted and will be filed tomorrow.