Instigator of California meat-cleaver murder gets six years in prison

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Fri Jul 15, 2016 11:37pm EDT

Instigator of California meat-cleaver murder gets six years in prison

LOS ANGELES | BY STEVE GORMAN

A former Swiss university professor who pleaded guilty to instigating the 1995 meat-cleaver murder of a man who she claimed raped her while she was a college student in California was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison.

Norma Esparza, 41, whose 2012 arrest in the long-unsolved case made international headlines, was sentenced along with two co-defendants for their roles in the slaying of 24-year-old Gonzalo Ramirez more than 20 years ago in Irvine, California.

Shannon Ray Gries, 45, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for his guilty plea in May to felony murder during the commission of a kidnapping, according to Orange County prosecutors. Diane Tran, 47, was sentenced to four years in prison. She pleaded guilty in January to voluntary manslaughter.

Esparza, who moved to Europe after the murder and later became an assistant professor at Webster University in Geneva, pleaded guilty in 2014 to voluntary manslaughter and agreed to testify against others accused in the killing.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-meatcleaver-idUSKCN0ZW07L

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