PUNTA GORDA, Florida (AP) -- A man on death row for murdering a prosecutor 17 years ago has died of natural causes, leaving some close to the victim lamenting that he was never executed.Samuel A. Pettit, who suffered from a degenerative brain disorder and had been in a wheelchair for several years, died November 4 at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. He was 43."I know Pettit's in hell and I feel good about that," former state prosecutor Kathleen Finnegan said.Finnegan was 28 in 1988, when Pettit approached her and Norman Langston, 27, with a gun in Punta Gorda as they got into a car after a social gathering.He forced them to drive to a dam, robbed them and fired his gun four times in the car. Langston covered Finnegan with his body, shielding her from the bullets. Pettit was arrested the next night and sentenced to death in 1989."I always knew we would receive justice from God, long before his case made it through the quagmire of the appeals process," Finnegan said.Pettit had 17 prior arrests and had served only a small portion of his previous sentence before being let out of prison in 1988. The crime inspired Finnegan to lead an initiative to pass legislation forcing prisoners to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.Pettit's death provided little comfort to Norman Langston's brother."He shouldn't have died in prison; he should have been executed in prison," Richard Langston said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.