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Girts will remain behind bars for at least 10 more years
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A Poland native convicted of the 1992 cyanide-poisoning death of his third wife won’t be eligible for parole for at least 10 more years.
When Robert Girts, 61, a former embalmer, pleaded guilty last January to involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud in the death of Diane Jones Girts, his defense attorneys and Cuyahoga County prosecutors agreed on a recommended sentence of six to 30 years in prison. Girts was given credit for the 15 years he served for two previous murder convictions that were overturned. The judge left it up to the Ohio Parole Board to determine how much time Girts would spend in prison.
This week, the parole board decided that would be at least 10 more years. Girts won’t be eligible for parole until May 2024. He is incarcerated at the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield.
The Ohio Parole Board decided “there is substantial reason to believe that due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of [Robert Girts] into society would create undue risk to public safety or that due to the serious nature of the crime” his release would “not further the interest of justice or be consistent with the welfare and security of society.”
The decision was released Monday.
“I’m happy,” said Bettianne Jones of Columbiana, whose late husband, Barry, was Diane Girts’ brother.
“What they said is a big relief,” she said.
As part of Girts’ plea in January, he had to admit what he’d done.
“I put cyanide in the salt shaker before I left for Chicago, knowing she would use the salt,” Girts read from a statement before the court.
His third wife, Terrie, also died young, although her death wasn’t linked to poison and no charges were filed.
While out of prison and awaiting his third trial, Girts married for a fourth time.
In November 2012, Geneva-on-the-Lake police arrested Girts, charging him with criminal mischief. He was accused of trying to get into the home of his fourth wife’s daughter after his wife locked him out.
In January 2013, Cuyahoga County prosecutors filed a motion to revoke Girts’ bond, saying his fourth wife was afraid of him. They believed he used the Internet to look up antifreeze ingestion and had been visiting his fourth wife at work and bringing her coffee. The woman had been feeling ill and vomiting, according to a court motion.
Before the parole board’s decision, Jones had been preparing mentally in case the board opted to give Girts a hearing which she expected in October. Jones spoke against Girts’ release at a 2006 parole board hearing, too.
“I was kind of leery, just kind of holding my breath until we heard,” she said. “I was prepared for the worst.”
That’s because, even after Girts had twice been convicted of killing her sister-in-law, he was released from prison in 2008 while awaiting a third trial and remained free until last January.
“We didn’t think he was going to get out for those five years either,” she said.
After two trials, a plea and too many court motions to count, Jones maintains files of information about the case that she can access in her house at a few moments’ notice. When her husband died, she took up his fight to ensure that Diane Girts got justice.
“I have a whole closet dedicated to Girts’ trial stuff,” she said.
And Jones plans to be there if and when Girts’ case comes before the parole board for a hearing again.
“I think I can let my guard down for 10 more years,” she said.