HAGERTOWN, Md. – A Maryland judge says a man who's been locked up 37 years for the fatal shooting of a deputy has served enough time.
Friday's decision by a judge in Hagerstown means 68-year-old Roberto Rezek (REH'-zek) of Fairmont, West Virginia, need not die in a Maryland prison.
Rezek still may face six to 12 years in Pennsylvania for convictions for crimes committed there in 1977, two years before his accomplice in a gun-shop burglary killed Garrett County Sheriff's Deputy David Livengood.
Rezek was convicted in 1979 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life plus 15 years. His conviction was reversed in 2011 because the trial judge gave improper jury instructions.
Rezek pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree murder, averting a retrial. The judge ordered a suspended life sentence with credit for time served.
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