The Ocean County prosecutor Friday dropped a 22-year effort to execute Robert Marshall for arranging the murder of his wife.

Marshall, whose death sentence was overturned last year by a federal court, now faces re-sentencing to a life term. Prosecutor Thomas Kelaher could have retried the death penalty phase, but said the passage of time would make that extremely difficult.The Toms River resident was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his wife at a Garden State Parkway rest stop in 1984. His case inspired the best selling book "Blind Faith" and a mini-series by the same name.