thomas_gibison.gifPHILADELPHIA (AP) _ A former skinhead will have his sentence reduced in the 1989 shooting death of a black man because a Philadelphia judge imposed a longer sentence than permitted at the time of the crime.

Court officials tell The Philadelphia Daily News the 10 to 20 year conspiracy sentence imposed in 2008 against 39-year-old Thomas Gibison was longer than allowed 19 years earlier.

Gibison was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder but acquitted of murder in the death of 34-year-old handyman Aaron Wood. A witness said he drove Gibison to the city from Newark, Del., to kill a black man and "earn" a spider web tattoo around the time Wood was fatally shot.

A date for that hearing has not been set. Gibison could be eligible for parole in 2014 or earlier.