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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Convicted murderer 27-year-old Marco Lee will spend the rest of his life in prison for shooting Colorado Springs police officer Ken Jordan.

Lee pleaded guilty this afternoon to first degree murder, and to ten other charges related to the shooting of DUI officer Ken Jordan.

Lee was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or right to appeal, plus 167 years.

In exchange, the district attorney's office will not seek the death penalty.

"The death penalty was something we sought and thought was appropriate and still think is. In a perfect world we'd be able to pursue it but we're just not able to," said El Paso County District Attorney John Newsome.

On December 4, 2006, Lee gunned down officer Ken Jordan during a DUI traffic stop.

"Many of us knew Ken Jordan he was a great cop a great person gunned down for no reason," says Newsome.

Since then, friends, family and co-workers have been hoping Lee would get the death penalty, but today he was granted a plea deal despite their wishes.

"A lot of people think it's an eye for an eye. You do something, you should die, and that's just simply not the way the statute is written," says Newsome.

Newsome says Colorado law makes it nearly impossible to secure the death penalty, and pursuing it wasn't worth the risk.

"It's certainly open for many other people to have their sense of whether that's good enough, but that's the justice we got today and we grateful for that," says Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers.

Jordan's friends and family indicated that wasn't good enough in court today.

Ken's sister, Sue Wertz, confronted Lee. She said, "We were supposed to have our chance to talk to a jury about Ken, to convince them about what to do with your pathetic little life. Just remember those sheets twist into a knot they make a nice noose."

His mother, Norma Jordan, added Ken was, "a good person, helpful kind and loving. You murdered him for no reason."

Lee's family also spoke apologizing for the pain he has caused.

"In terms of being a member of society, a person, that really ended today, and frankly, I think it ended when he made the decision he did two years ago to take this violent act," says Myers.

Lee would have gone to trial in April 2009.

District Judge G. David Miller apologized to Jordan's family, saying he wished the legal system could give them the justice they desired.

Many describe Jordan as a hero, loving man, and perfect example of what a police officer should be.

A park in Colorado Springs was dedicated in memory of Jordan in October.