First-Degree Murder Conviction, Life Sentence Overturned For Former Erie School Teacher In Student's Death

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - An appeals court has overturned the first-degree murder conviction and life sentence of a former northwestern Pennsylvania high school teacher in the strangulation death of a student more than four decades ago.

The Erie Times-News reports that a nine-judge Pennsylvania Superior Court panel Monday ordered a new degree of guilt hearing for former Strong Vincent High School teacher Raymond Payne.

Payne, now 81, pleaded guilty to a general count of murder in the 1975 strangulation death of 16-year-old Debbie Gama. A three-judge panel convicted him of first-degree murder after a hearing in which he argued guilt of only third-degree murder, or an unpremeditated killing with malice.

The Superior Court's 6-3 decision cited DNA tests in 2014 that indicated that the defendant's DNA didn't match seminal fluid found on the body.

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