William "Tippy" Wallace will not be put to death for the 1979 murders...

William "Tippy" Wallace will not be put to death for the 1979 murders of a dry cleaner and his 15-year-old clerk. The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals recently dismissed the first-degree murder conviction for William "Tippy" Wallace, 52, in the death of Tina Spalla, 15. The court, however, let stand Wallace's 2nd-degree conviction for the death of 63-year-old Carl Luisi. Thus, while Wallace will no longer be housed on death row, he will remain behind bars for the rest of his life. At his trial in 1985, a jury from Somerset County convicted him of the murders and decided that he should receive the death penalty. The trial was the third to be held for Wallace in connection with the murders. His 1st trial in 1980 ended in a hung jury. Wallace was convicted in 1981 by jurors from Erie County, but the ruling was overturned by the state Supreme Court in 1983, and a new trial was ordered. In 1989, the state Supreme Court upheld the death penalty following an appeal by Wallace who contended he was prejudiced because the court did not allow hearsay evidence of a statement made by his accomplice, Henry Brown, admitting that it was he who shot Spalla and not Wallace. Brown testified against Wallace at trial, but after he renegotiated a plea bargain in which his life sentence was reduced to 10 to 20 years in prison. A key condition of the new plea bargain was that Brown testify against Wallace. However, Wallace then appealed to the U.S. District Court, which overruled the state Supreme Court and ordered that the death penalty against Wallace be vacated. The prosecution then cross-appealed to the higher court claiming that the district court erred in its decision. Today, the court of appeals reaffirmed the district court's ruling.