Psychologist faces sentencing for 1995 murder

SANTA ANA, Orange County — A former psychology professor was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for the 1995 killing of a man she says raped her while she was a Southern California college student. Norma Patricia Esparza, 41, pleaded guilty in 2014 to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the prison term in the death of Gonzalo Ramirez. Esparza pointed out Ramirez at a bar in 1995 to former boyfriend Gianni Van and others who kidnapped and killed him, hacking him with a meat cleaver, authorities said. Authorities charged four people with the death of Ramirez, who Esparza said raped her after she met him at a bar while she was a student at Pomona College. Esparza took a plea deal in the hope of reuniting one day with her young daughter, her attorney Jack Earley told reporters after the hearing.