New sentencing gives Girts earlier release after murdering wife

CLEVELAND

The Mahoning Valley man twice convicted of killing his third wife was freed from prison Friday.

For the second time in less than two years, Robert Girts, 62, a Poland native, pleaded guilty in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Friday to involuntary manslaughter and insurance fraud in the 1992 death of Diane Jones Girts.

The former embalmer also had pleaded guilty to the same charges in January 2014. But an appeals court decision required that he be re-sentenced.

So, he was sentenced Friday to 11 years on the involuntary manslaughter charge and one year on insurance fraud.

But because he’d already served about 18 years, Girts was released.

Judge Michael E. Jackson ordered him to serve five years of post-release control. He will have to report to a parole officer.

“I put cyanide in the salt shaker before I left for Chicago, knowing she would use the salt,” Girts told the court at the time of his 2014 plea. He read the same statement Friday.

Bettianne Jones’ late husband, Barry, was Diane’s brother, and she has been following the case since her husband’s death, attending hearings, talking to prosecutors and maintaining her own files regarding the case.

Read what she thinks about the latest development in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.