A Pittsburgh man, who was convicted with his younger brother in a 1984 homicide in Cranberry Township and spent 37 years in state prison, will be released as part of a plea agreement after pleading guilty Monday in Butler County Common Pleas Court to third-degree murder.

Ronald Alfred Williams, 68, earlier had his death sentence reduced to life in prison. He was convicted in 1989 for his role in the fatal shooting of Archie S. Bradley, 38, in the parking lot of Nor-Sub Trucking on Route 19, where Bradley had worked as a truck driver.

Williams was 32 years old when he was identified as the getaway driver for his brother and codefendant, Raymond Williams, who was 17 at the time.

Raymond Williams' death sentence also was reduced to life in prison. He is set to be resentenced in October as a result of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles are unconstitutional.

Ronald Williams is in custody at SCI Fayette in Fayette County, and Raymond Williams is in custody at SCI Somerset in Somerset County.

Racial bias among the jury that convicted the pair was the basis of appeals Ronald Williams filed in the early 1990s and led to the plea agreement that Judge Kelley Streib accepted Monday.In court documents, Lisa B. Freeland, the public defender for U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania who represents Ronald Williams, argued that some jurors in the 1985 trial lied about not being racially biased, and witnesses heard jurors use racial slurs.In a statement, Freeland said: “Over three decades ago, Ronald Williams first challenged his conviction and sentence, claiming he was convicted by an impartial jury that included members who harbored racial bias. In 2003, he finally won an opportunity to prove his claim at a hearing in federal court, where he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus after the state courts had denied a hearing.“In 2012, Mr. Williams presented testimony that I believe proved that several trial jurors lied during voir dire about racial bias. Unfortunately, the district court disagreed. Mr. Williams appealed the court's ruling to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. A three-judge panel heard oral argument in May 2020.“Following the argument, the Commonwealth agreed that Mr. Williams was entitled to relief from his conviction. The parties filed a joint motion for summary reversal of the district court's denial of Mr. Williams' habeas petition. On remand, the district court had no choice but to grant Mr. Williams relief on his claim that he was convicted by an impartial jury — which it did in April 2021. It has been a long and difficult fight and, although I believe this case should have been resolved in Mr. Williams' favor many years ago, I commend the Attorney General's Office for ultimately agreeing that, based on the facts and circumstances of this case, Mr. Williams' conviction should not stand.”

The appeals and motions for relief went to federal court, where the U.S. attorney's and public defenders offices negotiated the plea agreement.Ronald Williams pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.In 1985, Ronald Williams was found guilty in Common Pleas Court of charges of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit homicide, possession of an instrument of crime, offensive weapons, receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license, crime committed with a firearm, former convict not to own a firearm and fleeing or attempting to elude police filed by Cranberry Township police.The jury found Raymond Williams guilty of similar charges in the same trial.During Monday's resentencing hearing, which Ronald Williams attended via video from the prison, deputy U.S. Attorney Gregory Simatic told Streib that the agreed-upon resolution was in the best interest of all parties.He said he informed the victim's family about the plea agreement, and they believed it was a “foregone conclusion,” but weren't thrilled about it.The family was notified about the hearing, he said. None of the victim's family were present.Freeland said Ronald Williams will be released, but it will be up to the state department of corrections to set his release date.