Girts wins appeal of sentence

Staff report

CLEVELAND

The 8th District Court of Appeals has vacated both the sentencing and plea of a former Poland embalmer for the poisoning death of his third wife in 1992.

The appeals court ordered that 60-year-old Robert Girts have his case remanded back to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court for a charge of aggravated murder for the Sept. 2, 1992, poisoning death of his third wife, Diane Jones Girts, 42.

In February, Girts had pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud for her death and was sentenced to six to 30 years in prison.

The appeals court ruled that Girts was entitled to appeal his sentence, even though he entered into a plea bargain, because he made the argument that his sentence was contrary to law — which is grounds for an appeal even in a plea-bargain case.

Girts claimed that his sentence was inappropriate because he was given an indefinite prison term and that he also entered his plea based on sentencing laws based on the time the crime was committed in 1992, not in 2014.

The appeals court agreed, saying under sentencing laws in effect at the time of the crime, an indefinite prison term was not allowed and also because he believed the old laws applied, he could not have entered into his guilty pleas knowingly and intelligently.

Girts twice had been convicted of aggravated murder in Diane’s death, but those convictions were overturned, and in 2008, Girts was released from prison after serving more than 15 years. He was awaiting a third trial when he entered his pleas.