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Court orders new sentencing hearing in Throneberry case Thursday, Mar 13, 2008 Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered a new sentencing hearing for Anne Throneberry, convicted of manslaughter, kidnapping and hindering apprehension in the 2004 death of her husband. The appeals court said the judge in Throneberry's case erred in sentencing her to a longer prison term than the jury recommended based on evidence that was never presented against her at trial. A Van Buren County jury convicted Throneberry in the death of her husband, Ted Throneberry, who was killed in an ambush at their home in rural Alread. The jury recommended Anne Throneberry receive non-consecutive sentences of three years for manslaughter, 10 years for kidnapping and 15 years for hindering apprehension. Circuit Judge David Reynolds ordered that the sentences run consecutively, for a total of 28 years, saying he had "benefit of ... information that the jury did not have" from having presided over the cases of her two co-defendants. Mark Holsombach was convicted of capital murder in 2005 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. James Frazier pleaded guilty to first degree murder and other offenses in 2006 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Anne Throneberry appealed her sentence, arguing Reynolds abused his discretion by overruling the jury's recommended sentence because the information he considered when making the sentence was information not available to the jury. In a unanimous decision Wednesday, the Court of Appeals overturned the sentence Reynolds rendered, citing previous state Supreme Court precedent that "judicial notice may not be taken of the record in a separate case." "We agree with Throneberry that the trial judge's consideration of evidence that was never introduced against her was improper," Judge Sam Bird wrote. Police said Ted Throneberry returned home from a pipefitting job in Illinois in late February 2004 and was ambushed by Holsombach and Frazier. Authorities said Anne Throneberry took part in the plot to killer her husband but was not home when the attack occurred. She left home before her husband arrived and stayed in a nearby camper, they said. After Ted Throneberry was murdered, his body was burned inside a plastic barrel until ash and small bone chips remained. His remains were scattered on a dirt trail near the home, according to police. Holsombach and Frazier were involved in a shootout with police on March 22, 2004, and fled with Anne Throneberry into the Ozark National Forest. Throneberry and Holsombach were captured two days later after being spotted walking along a Newton County road. Frazier was arrested in Johnson County. |
