John P

John P. Ockenhouse, who admitted killing a 91-year-old woman 5 years ago, is no longer on death row. Ockenhouse, 35, agreed to drop all appeals and will serve a sentence of life in prison without parole, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said Wednesday. Ockenhouse pleaded guilty in 1998 to killing Naomi Spankowitch in her home on April 11, 1998. Ockenhouse let a judge decide if he should be executed, instead of a jury, and he refused to let his attorney present evidence to spare his life. Lehigh County Judge Thomas A. Wallitsch imposed the death penalty on Dec. 3, 1998. Martin said upholding Ockenhouse's death sentence in federal appeals courts would have been "problematic" because the death penalty was imposed without the presentation of mitigating circumstances. Martin said Ockenhouse's mental health was also an issue.