Legal News Headlines

 
Copyright 2008 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.

 May 13, 2008 Tuesday

SECTION: ARKANSAS

LENGTH: 607 words

BYLINE: BY DEBRA HALE-SHELTON ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

BODY: 

Anne Throneberry, imprisoned for the 2004 kidnapping and death of her husband, Ted, will not get to inherit any of his estate unless an appeals court reverses her manslaughter conviction, a judge has ruled.

Circuit Judge Charles E. Clawson Jr. of Conway issued the decision in a letter mailed last week to attorneys for Anne Throneberry and Ted Throneberry's father, Vernie Throneberry of North Little Rock.

Clawson ruled in a probate case filed in Van Buren County Circuit Court by Vernie Throneberry, who asked to disqualify his former daughter-in-law from the inheritance.

Ted Throneberry's will had listed his widow then his father as beneficiaries, said Edward Morgan, the Clinton attorney representing Vernie Throneberry.

Morgan said in a telephone interview Monday that he did not know of anything left in the estate with "substantial" monetary value. Rather, the estate consists of such things as vehicles, farm equipment and hand tools, he said.

"A lot of Mr. [Vernie] Throneberry's position was principle - to make sure things were done properly," Morgan said. "I think it also will provide him some closure." Conway attorney Frank Shaw, who represents Anne Throneberry, agreed the estate was "not composed of substantial assets." He said most of it originally consisted of two parcels of land - 75 acres, which were sold with court approval to help finance his client's legal expenses, and a 160-acre tract, which was sold at foreclosure.

In January 2007, a Van Buren County jury convicted Anne Throneberry, 49, of manslaughter and kidnapping. Authorities said she was in on the murder plot but was not present when co-defendants Mark Holsombach and William Frazier killed her husband with a sledgehammer at the couple's remote Alread home.

Authorities said the killers burned the victim's body inside a plastic barrel until only tiny bone chips remained and then scattered them on a nearby dirt trail.

A jury in Clinton convicted Holsombach in 2005 of capital murder and other crimes. He is serving life without the possibility of parole. Frazier pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and other charges in 2006 and is serving a 30-year sentence.

Shaw noted that state law prohibits a person convicted of firstor second-degree murder in a spouse's death from inheriting the victim's estate. Because Throneberry was convicted instead of manslaughter, he said, that law should not apply to her.

Clawson, however, cited case law and concluded that "at this point the facts clearly indicate that Mrs. Throneberry feloniously participated in acts which caused the death of the decedent." If the appeals courts uphold her conviction, he said, she could not inherit under her late husband's will.

Shaw said he had not talked with his client yet to see if she wants to appeal the decision. But he said the law is unclear, adding, "I would anticipate my client will want to appeal this decision, even though there's not much left to argue over." In March, the Arkansas Court of Appeals sent Anne Throneberry's criminal case back to Circuit Judge David Reynolds of Conway for resentencing. The Arkansas attorney general's office, though, has asked the state Supreme Court to review that decision, which reversed Throneberry's consecutive prison sentences.

Throneberry is serving three years for manslaughter, 10 years for kidnapping and 15 years for hindering apprehension of her co-defendants. She has appealed only her sentencing, not her convictions.

A wrongful-death lawsuit filed in 2004 by Vernie Throneberry against Anne Throneberry, Holsombach and Frazier remains pending in Van Buren County Circuit Court.

This article was published 05/13/2008

LOAD-DATE: May 13, 2008