Girts pleads guilty to fraud, manslaughter in third wife's death

CLEVELAND — Poland native Robert Girts, 60, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud this morning in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in the 1992 poisoning death of his third wife, Diane.

He had been charged with aggravated murder and was twice convicted, but those convictions were thrown out and Girts was released from prison in 2008, awaiting a third trial.

The insurance fraud charge was added as part of the plea.

The agreed-upon sentence is 6 to 30 years, but Girts will be given credit for the nearly 16 years he's already spent behind bars.