Terry Barton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terry Lynn Barton is a former U.S. Forest Service worker who was accused of starting the Hayman fire in 2002, the largest wildfire in the history of the state of Colorado. She claimed that the fire started as an accident when she burned some letters from her estranged husband. A federal grand jury indicted Barton on four felony counts of arson.[1]

The fire burned over 137,000 acres (554 km²) of the Pike National Forest, and destroyed 133 homes. [2]

Barton ultimately pleaded guilty to the arson charge[3] and was given a six year sentence in federal prison.[4] She was also ordered to reimburse the federal government $14.6 million.

The State of Colorado originally sentenced Barton to 12 years in prison to run concurrently with the 6 year federal sentence. However the state sentence was overturned on appeal on grounds that the presiding judge had "the appearance of prejudice" because smoke from the fire motivated him to voluntarily leave his home for one night.[5] In March 2008, Barton was re-sentenced by a different judge to 15 years of probation.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Forest worker indicted for starting wildfire". CNN.com (2002-06-19). Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
  2. ^ "Legal Troubles Not Over For Terry Barton". TheDenverChannel.com (2002-12-11). Retrieved on 2006-11-03.
  3. ^ "Barton Pleads Guilty In Hayman Fire Case", TheDenverChannel.com, December 7, 2002. Accessed May 20, 2007
  4. ^ "Added Term In Forest Fire". New York Times (2003-06-03). Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
  5. ^ "Prison Sentence Tossed Out For Hayman Firestarter". "TheDenverChannel.com" (2004-12-16). Retrieved on 2004-12-16.
  6. ^ "Hayman fire starter won't serve state jail time". "The Denver Post" (2008-03-27). Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
Crime bio stubThis U.S. biographical article related to crime is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.