American Released in
Killing Leaves Nicaragua
By BAYARDO MENDOZA,
Associated Press
MANAGUA, NICARAGUA
- American Eric Volz was
freed by a judge on
Friday despite an uproar
in Nicaragua after an
appeals court overturned
his conviction and
30-year sentence in the
slaying of his
Nicaraguan girlfriend.
The 28-year-old from
Nashville, Tenn.,
accompanied by his
mother, was freed from a
prison hospital where he
was being treated for
kidney stones, then
rushed to the airport
where mother and son
boarded a flight to
Atlanta.
"We are pleased that the
Nicaraguan Appeals Court
decision ... has been
implemented in
accordance with
Nicaraguan law," he
said.
Live television
broadcasts showed a
caravan of news media
following Volz as he
headed toward the
airport.
An appeals court on
Monday overturned Volz's
conviction in the
November 2006 death of
25-year-old Doris Ivania
Jimenez, enraging
prosecutors, human
rights and women's
rights activists who
believe Volz is guilty.
Volz and a Nicaraguan
man, Julio Martin
Chamorro, were sentenced
in February for the
death of Jimenez, who
was found raped and
strangled in a clothing
store she owned in
Rivas. The court upheld
Chamorro's conviction in
the murder.
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