Jul 13, 2006 8:36 pm US/Mountain
Sentencing Delayed In Hayman Fire Case
DENVER (AP) ―
A resentencing of a former U.S. Forest Service employee who admitted setting the largest wildfire in Colorado history has been delayed indefinitely, her public defender said Thursday.
Terry Lynn Barton, 42, was sentenced on state charges to 12 years in prison in 2003, twice the typical term.
But the Colorado Court of Appeals ordered a new sentencing, saying the judge in the case may have been biased because smoke from the 138,000-acre Hayman wildfire forced him to evacuate. The fire destroyed 133 homes.
Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas Kennedy ruled this year a jury could consider whether enough aggravating circumstances existed to justify the sentence. A hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday.
Barton's public defender, Mark Walta said the Colorado Supreme Court agreed in May to review a similar sentencing situation from Montezuma County, and Barton's case has been put on hold pending the outcome of the Montezuma case.
"It's almost certainly going to bear on this case," he said.
Walta said the issue may not be clarified until sometime this fall.
Barton had been serving her state sentence simultaneously with a federal sentence she received after pleading guilty to federal charges including arson. She remains at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, she is due to complete her federal sentence in June 2008.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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