USA - Indiana. 'Zachary's Law' killer, Christopher M.Stevens, resentenced

Christopher M.Stevens, a child molester who strangled a 10-year-old boy, leading to the Indiana sex offender registry law, will be resentenced to life in prison without parole after his death sentence was overturned. 37-year-old Stevens agreed to the sentence during a meeting in Tippecanoe Superior Court. He will be formally sentenced during a Nov. 23 hearing in Lafayette. Stevens was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Zachary Snider. But a federal appeals court set aside the death penalty in 2007 and let the murder conviction stand. A new penalty phase trial had been set for next February, but a prosecutor says Zachary's parents agreed to dropping the death penalty. The case led to state Legislature's 1994 passage of the "Zachary's Law" registry. (see also June 18, 2007)