BATON ROUGE — Gov. Jeff Landry says a Midwestern man sentenced to life in prison for the 1981 killing of a Baton Rouge man should be given a term of years and become eligible for parole.

William Ollis, 75, had gone before the state Pardons Board in May and it recommended he be given a term of 99 years in prison. With Landry's approval this week, the matter now goes to the state Committee on Parole, which must make a decision within 180 days.

The Board of Pardons cited the amount time Ollis had served, his age and a recommendation from the warden at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.

"I'm not the same man I was then when the crime happened," Ollis told the Board of Pardons on May 12. He also apologized to his victim's family.

Unrelated to the parole board decision, two co-defen

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