An Australian man who admitted killing US mathematician Scott Johnson in 1983 received a second prison sentence.
Scott White was found guilty of killing Mr. Johnson last year, but he successfully appealed the decision before pleading guilty to manslaughter.
In 1988, during a wave of attacks on gay men, Mr. Johnson's body was discovered at the foot of cliffs in Sydney.
Although his family had long believed it was a hate crime, the death had been initially determined to be a suicide.
New South Wales (NSW) had only recently decriminalized homosexuality, and assaults on LGBT people were frequent but infrequently looked into. For decades, Mr. Johnson's family fought for a thorough investigation of the case by the police.
White, who was 18 years old at the time of the murder but is now 52, acknowledged punching Mr. Johnson during a fight at Manly's North Head, sending the 27-year-old over a cliff and into death.
He was given a nine-year prison term with six years of parole on Thursday by a judge at the NSW Supreme Court.
White shocked his defense team in January 2022 when he confessed during a pretrial hearing, "I am guilty," and was soon given a 12-year prison sentence.
His legal team was successful in arguing that the plea was made when he was "confused" and "stressed," and he insisted he had no intention of killing Mr. Johnson. As a result, the initial conviction was overturned.
The police department previously apologized to Mr. Johnson's family for not conducting a thorough investigation of the case in the 1980s and for failing to safeguard the gay community.
According to current estimates, up to 80 gay men were killed in Sydney during that time, with many of them being pushed off cliffs.
