MUNSTER, Ind. (AP) - A man who struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid facing the death penalty after being convicted of killing a Gary police officer will be released from prison next year.
Zolo Agona Azania is scheduled to be released on Feb. 8, according to the Times of Northwest Indiana.
Allen County juries sentenced Azania, formerly known as Rufus Averhart, to death twice for killing Gary police Lt. George Yaros during a 1981 bank robbery. The Indiana Supreme Court overturned the sentences but upheld the conviction in 2008. Prosecutors said at the time they agreed to the deal because many witnesses had died or were no longer available to testify.
According to the Gary FOP website, Yaros was a 29-years veteran of the department and was due to retire within the year he died to take a job working at the bank where he was killed.
Azania is being held at the Miami Correctional Facility near Bunker Hill, 60 miles north of Indianapolis.
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