Gregory Esparza will not be executed and eventually...

Gregory Esparza will not be executed and eventually could be paroled.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati affirmed a U.S. District Court decision overturning the death sentence for Esparza, 39, who is on death row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution.
Esparza was convicted in 1984 of aggravated murder for the shooting death of Melanie Gerschultz, 38, during a robbery Feb. 12, 1983.
The federal appellate court agreed with U.S. District Judge Kathleen McDonald OMalley, of the Northern District in Cleveland, that the indictment charging Esparza with murder was defective, in part, because it did not include the aggravating circumstance that made the crime a capital offense.
The court also said the Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury was not instructed at trial on the specifications for the death penalty nor did the panel return a verdict finding Esparza guilty of such specifications.
Craig Pearson, an assistant county prosecutor, said Esparza would be returned to Lucas County and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.