The Latest: Psychologist sentenced for California killing
SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Latest on the sentencing of a former psychology professor in the 1995 killing of a man she says raped her (all times local):
11:45 a.m.
A former psychology professor has been sentenced to six years in prison for the 1995 killing of a man she says raped her when she was a college student in California.
Norma Patricia Esparza did not speak during her sentencing Friday in Orange County Superior Court.
The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter nearly two years ago in a deal with prosecutors.
Authorities say Esparza pointed out Gonzalo Ramirez at a bar in 1995 to her former boyfriend Gianni Van and others who kidnapped and killed him. Ramirez’s body was found by the side of a road in Orange County in 1995 but the case went cold for years.
Esparza was arrested in 2012 on a trip to the United States. She had been living in France and teaching at a university in Switzerland.
Van was sentenced last year to life without parole for Ramirez’s murder.
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9:01 p.m.
A psychologist is expected to be sentenced to six years in prison for the 1995 killing of a man she says raped her while she was a college student.
Norma Patricia Esparza is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday in Orange County Superior Court along with two co-defendants.
Esparza pleaded guilty in 2014 to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for a six-year sentence for the killing of Gonzalo Ramirez.
Authorities say Esparza pointed out Ramirez at a bar in 1995 to her former boyfriend Gianni Van and others who kidnapped and killed him.
Ramirez’s bloodied body was found by the side of a road in Irvine, California, but the case went cold for years.
Esparza became a psychology professor. She was arrested in 2012 while visiting the United States from France.
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