By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Supreme Court today said a Van Buren County circuit judge did not have to reveal what information he used to impose a tougher sentence than a jury recommended for Anne Throneberry in the death of her husband.
The ruling affirmed the 28-year sentence Throneberry received for her convictions on charges of manslaughter, kidnapping and hindering apprehension. She was charged in the 2004 death of her husband, Ted Throneberry, who was killed in an ambush at their home in rural Alread.
The jury at Anne Throneberry’s trial recommended she receive concurrent sentences of three years for manslaughter, 10 years for kidnapping and 15 years for hindering apprehension.
Circuit Judge David Reynolds instead ordered the sentences to run consecutively, 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 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.
The state Court of Appeals last year overturned Anne Throneberry’s sentence, ruling that Reynolds abused his discretion by considering evidence that was never introduced at the her trial. At a new sentencing hearing last year, Reynolds again ordered the sentences recommended by the jury to run consecutively.
Anne Throneberry argued on appeal that Reynolds had to explain why he went against the jury’s recommendation of concurrent sentences.
In today’s ruling, the state’s highest court said Reynolds “stated on the record that (he) had been told by the Court of Appeals that (he) could only consider the evidence from Throneberry’s trial in making its sentencing decisions, and that was what (he) was going to do.
“On appeal, the only reason Throneberry advances to argue that the judge abused his discretion is that the court did not state its reason for consecutive sentences. We have held, however, that this argument, standing alone, is not sufficient to meet the appellant’s heavy burden,” the court said in an opinion written by Justice Elana Cunningham Wills.
Authorities said Anne Throneberry took part in the plot to kill her husband but was not at 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. Anne Throneberry and Holsombach were captured two days later after being spotted along a Newton County road. Frazier was arrested in Johnson County.
