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(KSL News) A man once on death row will get his first opportunity for parole later this month. Elroy Tillman has spent the last 25 years in prison for the murder of Mark Schoenfeld.
He was initially sentenced to death, but that sentence was commuted in 2005 due to evidence that had been misplaced by prosecutors.
Parole board spokesman Jim Hatch told the Deseret News, "Now that he's been taken off of death row, he is eligible for parole. That is not to say he's going to get parole."
The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 24.
Prosecutors have said they plan to lobby to keep Tillman, 73, in prison for the rest of his life.
Tillman has spent 25 years behind bars for the May 26, 1982, slaying of Mark Schoenfeld. Prosecutors say Schoenfeld was dating a woman who had broken up with Tillman months earlier and Tillman was jealous.
Tillman was originally sentenced to death after being convicted of murder in 1983, but the death sentence was vacated in 2005 because of evidence that prosecutors misplaced and surfaced only weeks before Tillman was scheduled to be executed in 2001.
The Utah Supreme Court overturned Tillman's death sentence, but not his conviction.
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