USA - Louisiana. Death sentence changed to life in prison for John Francis Wille

Death sentence changed to life in prison for John Francis Wille, 50, White, the man sentenced to die for the 1985 murder and rape of 8-year-old Nichole Lopatta. St. John the Baptist Parish prosecutors agreed today to abandon capital punishment for Wille in favor of life in prison. "This is a major step," said Tawfiq Rangwala, Wille's lead attorney, after a court hearing in Edgard before District Judge Sterling Snowdy. District Attorney Tom Daley said he agreed to drop the death penalty because Wille still remains in prison for life. That's what prosecutors wanted to ensure when they sought capital punishment during his 1986 trial. Though free of the death penalty, Wille's defense is still seeking a new trial to get his conviction thrown out altogether. His attorneys say his confession, as well as the confessions of his girlfriend, Judith Walters, and Walter's daughter, then 13, were coerced and are false. The motion approved Monday is part of an evidentiary hearing seeking a new trial. The motion approved Monday is part of an evidentiary hearing seeking a new trial. The defense is expected to call witnesses on Tuesday in an effort to get the murder sentenced vacated. Rangwala, whose New York firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, signed on to work the case pro bono, argued that in addition to having an inexperienced defense attorney, said the post conviction hearing is about "what the jury was never told." That evidence he said includes DNA tests in 2011 of a semen-stained handkerchief found near the girl's body doesn't match Wille's, which defense says must mean it belongs to the "real perpetrator." However, assistant district attorney Justin Lacour said the lack of a match doesn't exonerate Wille, it could mean that the time has degraded the DNA making it impossible to detect.