Maryland Man To Be Sentenced Again In Wife's 1972 Murder

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) -- A man who spent more than 40 years in prison for his wife's 1972 murder in Prince George's County will be sentenced for the crime a second time.

Sixty-five-year-old James Bonnett is set to be sentenced Friday. A jury found Bonnett guilty of first-degree murder in September for the shooting death of his 22-year-old wife, Dianna Bonnett, in her family's Capitol Heights home.

Bonnett's 1972 trial was declared unconstitutional.

Bonnett is one of 200 inmates who got new trials after the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in 2012 that in cases before 1980, Maryland judges gave juries flawed instructions. In most of those cases, inmates considered reformed were freed under plea deals. But in a few instances, prosecutors decided to seek new trials to keep certain inmates behind bars.

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