Prosecutors reduce the charges in a jailhouse killing.

Waldemar Rivera is now charged with manslaughter, instead of murder, in the killing of Kevin Cales at the McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in May.

The change in charge knocks 40 years off the potential maximum sentence, on the most serious charge Rivera faces.

Rivera appeared in Hartford Superior Court, where he wore a shaved head, and a bushy, black beard.  He pleaded not guilty.

Several women supporting Rivera were in the courtroom.  One of them pumped her fist, and exclaimed, "Yes!" when a defense lawyer explained the outcome of the hearing, in a corridor outside the courtroom.

Cales had been sentenced to 79 years in prison in April on charges in resulting from a 2006 chase which led to a car crash in Berlin which killed five people, including his former girlfriend.

Rivera identified himself as a relative of one of the victims.

He originally was charged with murder and assault, but prosecutors say it was unclear they could prove he intended to kill Cales.