Former Ohio undertaker who killed wife freed from prison
CLEVELAND (AP) – A former northeast Ohio undertaker has for the third time been sentenced to prison for using poison to kill his wife – but then the judge decided to let him out.
A Cuyahoga County judge decided to put former Parma embalmer Robert Girts on probation because he’s already spent more than 16 years behind bars through two trials and several appeals.
Cleveland.com reports that the judge on Friday gave the 62-year-old Girts the maximum sentence of 12 years after Girts pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud. Then he ordered Girts released and placed on parole for five years.
Girts has admitted that he killed his wife in 1992 by putting cyanide in her salt shaker.