Judge overturns SC man’s death sentence

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina judge has overturned a death sentence for a man convicted of killing his estranged wife while awaiting trial on charges he had raped and kidnapped her.

Prosecutors said Monday a judge had instead opted to sentence Louis Winkler to life in prison. Judge Ben Culbertson said Winkler’s original attorneys made mistakes during the trial.

Winkler had been on death row since 2008, when he was found guilty of murder and first-degree burglary in the death of his wife, Rebekah Grainger Winkler, in her Little River apartment.

Winker was under house arrest at the time of the 2006 shooting but was allowed out for several hours a day. The state Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence in 2010.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP