FAYETTEVILLE -- Christopher Segerstrom, who killed a 4-year-old girl more than 30 years ago, will get a resentencing hearing at which he can present evidence and testimony in his favor, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Segerstrom was 15 on July 26, 1986, when he took Barbara Thompson into some woods behind the Lewis Plaza Apartments several blocks west of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He sexually assaulted her, then bashed her head with a 40-pound rock and suffocated her. He had promised to help her catch butterflies.
Segerstrom, 45, was convicted in 1987 of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
The U.S. and Arkansas supreme courts have ruled in recent years that minors cannot be sentenced to life without parole. Arkansas changed its law to allow life with the possibility of parole after 30 years to comply with the rulings. Anyone who was sentenced as a teenager to life without parole had to be resentenced.
Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay in 2017 denied Segerstrom's motion for a sentencing hearing, saying a hearing was not required because the state law applied retroactively.
Because Segerstrom was given credit at his original sentencing for 11 months of jail time served, he became immediately eligible to seek parole. He was denied parole in July 2017.
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state law dealing with minors who kill does not apply retroactively to Segerstrom's case and he has to be allowed a sentencing hearing before a judge or jury for sentencing within the range for a Class Y felony. The range is 10-40 years or life.
Justice Shawn Womack dissented. He earlier said the law should be applied retroactively.
Washington County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett said the ruling did not come as a surprise, based on recent decisions by the high court in other teen murder cases.
"It's just remanded back to Judge Lindsay to hold a sentencing hearing," Durrett said. "It didn't do anything with the conviction, it's just the sentence."
The new sentencing hearing could be before a judge, or a jury may be seated, Durrett said.
"It could be either one, that's kind of up to both sides. I assume both sides will want a jury to do it," Durrett said. "One thing that has to happen is there has to be a hearing for the defendant to have the ability to put on mitigating evidence."
Durrett said he expects both sides and the judge to start talking soon about scheduling.
"Both sides can put on evidence at sentencing," Durrett said. "It's just like any other sentencing with the only difference being that in a traditional trial when you come around to the sentencing phase, the jury's heard all the evidence and that's one thing they can take into account when determining a sentence for a defendant. They can factor in the evidence of the crime when coming up with a sentence. So, the difference in this case is they won't have already heard it."
Durrett has said he doesn't believe Segerstrom can be rehabilitated and will remain a danger to society.
Washington County had two other cases of teen murderers sentenced to life without parole.
James Dean Vancleave, 55, of Springdale was convicted of killing 23-year-old Debra King. He was 16 when he killed King on Jan. 29, 1978, at a convenience store on Elm Springs Road.
Vancleave stabbed King 16 times, slashed her hand 11 times and tried to slash her throat with a small hunting knife to get $30 from her purse. The cash register wasn't touched.
Vancleave was paroled in March.
Dennis Wayne Lewis was ordered released from prison because no valid sentencing options were available in his case.
Lewis, 60, of Wichita, Kan., was convicted of capital murder and assault with intent to rob.
Lewis was 17 years and 5 months old when he killed Jared Jerome Cobb at Cobb's Western Store and Pawn Shop in Springdale during an armed robbery April 8, 1974. Lewis was discharged from the Arkansas Department of Correction on Oct. 25, 2016.
Metro on 02/15/2019