One person was shot and killed early Monday morning during an armed robbery attempt at Dominos Pizza at 2201 Stonehenge Ave. Bowling Green police are investigation it as a homicide. (Photo by Joe Imel/Daily News)

The death penalty will not be sought for a Bowling Green man accused of shooting a man during the course of a robbery at Domino’s Pizza.

Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron filed notice May 29 that he will seek a punishment of life in prison without parole or life with no chance at parole for 25 years for John Shobe III.

Shobe, 22, is under indictment for murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree fleeing or evading police, giving an officer a false name or address and alcohol intoxication.

He is accused of shooting Harold Dean Johnson, 51, of Bowling Green, outside Domino’s Pizza on Stonehenge Avenue on Aug. 26, 2013, as Johnson tried to stop a robbery at the business.

Shobe’s case is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 9 in Warren Circuit Court.

State law allows a prosecutor to pursue capital punishment against a defendant accused of murder if the crime was committed during the commission of another violent felony, such as a rape, robbery, kidnapping or arson.

Other factors, known as aggravating circumstances, that allow for the death penalty to be sought against a defendant include if the defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death for one or more persons in a public place by using a weapon of mass destruction, if the murder was committed for financial gain, if the defendant has committed or been convicted of a prior murder or other violent felony, if the offense was committed by a person who is incarcerated, has escaped, or is on probation and if the victim was a government employee killed in the course of doing his or her job.

A defendant convicted of a capital offense can potentially receive the death penalty, life without parole or life without parole for at least 25 years.

Cohron’s filing cites Shobe engaging in a robbery at the time of his participation in the homicide as an aggravating circumstance.

Prior capital cases in Warren County include: 

•Kathy Coy, who killed Jamie Stice in 2011 and cut Stice’s unborn son from her womb. Cohron filed notice to seek the death penalty against Coy, who eventually pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges of murder and kidnapping. She was sentenced to life without parole.

•Lawrence Stinnett, who was found guilty by a jury of murder and kidnapping in connection with the 2006 death of Christina Renshaw. The death penalty was also sought against Stinnett, but a jury recommended he be sentenced to life without parole.

•Stephen Soules and Lucas Goodrum, who were charged in the 2003 murder and rape of Western Kentucky University student Katie Autry. Soules pleaded guilty to murder and several other charges and is serving a life sentence with no chance at parole. A jury in Owensboro acquitted Goodrum of all counts. The case was moved there because of pre-trial publicity.

— Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter at twitter.com/jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com.