LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas' attorney general has honored a Trumann police officer killed while making a traffic stop last year.

At a ceremony honoring the state's top law enforcement officers, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel paid tribute Tuesday to Patrolman Jonathan Schmidt. Witnesses said Schmidt protected his sergeant when a wanted man began firing at them April 12, 2011.

Jerry Lard, who was in the back seat of a car Schmidt had pulled over, was convicted of shooting the officer and sentenced to death. A videotape of the traffic stop revealed that Schmidt pleaded for his life before being shot, telling Lard, "Please don't shoot me. Please don't shoot me again."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.