CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A man accused of killing a St. Louis County police officer in 2016 will not face the death penalty.

A judge on Friday set the first-degree murder trial for 19-year-old Trenton Forster for Feb. 4, 2019. Forster is accused in the shooting death of 33-year-old officer Blake Snyder.

Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said in a statement that the decision came after an examination and re-examination of evidence. He declined to elaborate, citing ethical rules.

Snyder responded to a disturbance call on Oct. 6, 2016. Authorities say Forster shot Snyder before Snyder’s partner shot Forster several times. Forster survived and is jailed on $1 million bail. Forster’s public defender Stephen Reynolds told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in an email that prosecutors “made the right decision” in not seeking the death penalty.
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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com