A former Kentucky death row inmate has been convicted of robbing and killing a western Kentucky woman in 1990 but will be eligible for parole in about seven years.

A jury in Madisonville recommended Monday that Charles Bussell, 54, spend life in prison but be eligible for parole after 25 years. Bussell already has served 18 years.

The same panel earlier Monday convicted Bussell of killing of 65-year-old Sue Spears Lail.

The trial marked the third time prosecutors tried Bussell, who spent 16 years on death row after being convicted. Prosecutors opted not to seek a death sentence in the most recent trial.

Butler County Commonwealth's Attorney Tim Coleman said that Bussell will be formally sentenced on Sept. 30.

In 2007, the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned Bussell's conviction, citing an inadequate attorney. It marked the first time the state's high court overturned a death sentence on those grounds. The justices also ruled the prosecution withheld evidence favorable to Bussell.

The Kentucky New Era reported that Bussell's first retrial in Christian County Circuit Court ended in a hung jury last year.

Bussell's attorney, Keith Virgin, argued that another person, now dead, was responsible for Lail's death. He said the other person had a former inmate from the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville kill Lail.

"Men that have been in Eddyville are mean, and one of them came over there and killed (Lail)," Virgin said.

Bussell testified last week, saying he saw Lail the morning she died but that the woman was alive.

Prosecutor Tim Coleman argued that all the evidence pointed to Bussell as the killer, including several items Bussell gave away that belonged to the victim.

"All those paths lead one direction — Charles Bussell beat, robbed and murdered Sue Lail," Coleman said.

In 2005, Christian County Circuit Judge Charles Boteler ruled Bussell should have a new trial, saying his attorneys gave "virtually no defense" in his first trial in Lail's death. Boteler criticized Bussell's former attorney, Joel R. Embry, who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence for drug possession and second-degree manslaughter.

The high court upheld that decision in 2007.