EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) _ An Evansville man whose conviction and death sentence for killing his estranged wife and their two children was set aside has agreed to plead guilty in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Under an agreement entered in Vanderburgh Circuit Court on Thursday, 43-year-old Paul McManus agreed to plead guilty to three counts of murder for fatally shooting his estranged, 29-year-old wife, Melissa, and their two children, 8-year-old Lindsey and 23-month-old Shelby, in February 2001.
McManus spent 13 years on death row before a federal appeals court threw out his conviction in February. It found McManus was forced to appear before a jury in a “drug-induced stupor'' after he was treated with psychological medications that were prescribed for severe panic attacks that required his hospitalization.
