Wife pleads guilty in 2011 killing

Charged with capital murder, Despain admits 3 lesser counts

Saturday, August 9, 2014

JONESBORO -- A Jonesboro woman charged with capital murder in the August 2011 slaying of her husband pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of hindering apprehension and faces up to 30 years in prison.

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Craighead County Circuit Judge Victor Hill will sentence Michelle Despain on Sept. 17. Craighead County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mike Walden recommended sentencing Despain to 180 months for each of two counts and suspending a 240-month sentence for the third count.

Despain, 36, was accused of conspiring to kill her husband, Marc Despain, 34, on Aug. 24, 2011.

"There will never be closure," said Tana Despain, Marc Despain's mother, who attended Friday's plea hearing. "But we can begin to move forward with our lives now."

Prosecutors charged Michelle Despain in May 2012 -- nine months after she called police and said she found her husband shot to death in the kitchen of their Jenni Lane home in southwest Jonesboro. Police arrested three people within a week of the shooting -- including Michelle Despain's father, Carl Dewayne Kelley of Paragould. Each was charged with capital murder.

Kelley later admitted his role in what police termed a "murder-for-hire plot" in exchange for a guilty plea to first-degree murder. Kelley was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Terrance Odell Barker of Jonesboro also pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and also received a 35-year prison sentence. Johnny Hubbard of Jonesboro was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension.

Both Barker and Hubbard indicated they would testify against Michelle Despain during her trial.

On Friday, Despain sat in the empty courtroom with her parents, Kevin and Kathy Luke, for about 30 minutes before the brief hearing was held. She was free on bond; prosecutors dropped the death penalty against her in June 2013.

She spoke quietly when Hill asked her questions and then left quickly with her parents after the hearing.

Her attorney, Ray Nickle of Jonesboro, said Michelle Despain admitted to "having knowledge of individuals who participated in the murder ... but she did not assist law enforcement."

"She did not give truthful answers," Nickle said during the hearing. "She kept information from law enforcement."

Afterward, Nickle said he wouldn't comment on the case until next month's sentencing hearing concludes.

Second Judicial Circuit Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said in a court filing Friday that the state agreed to the negotiated plea because of uncertainties in the admissibility of evidence and the questionable reliance of the testimony of the other convicted defendants.

Walden said after Friday's hearing that the state was unsure if Hill would allow text messages taken from Michelle Despain's cellphone as evidence in her trial.

"This would have been very important evidence for the state," Walden said. "There was some uncertainty if we'd get the ruling to allow that."

Hill earlier blocked statements she made to an attorney who was her friend, citing privilege between clients and attorneys.

Michelle Despain's capital-murder trial was scheduled to begin on Sept. 8. Potential jurors had already been notified to be in court that day.

"Our ultimate goal was for her to serve time [in jail]," Walden said. "We achieved that with this plea."

Nickle approached Ellington and Walden with the negotiated plea a few weeks ago, Walden said.

"We didn't take it serious until last week," he said.

The decision came so quickly that Jack Despain, Marc Despain's father, was out of town and not able to attend Friday's hearing. Both Jack and Tana Despain attended each of the several pretrial hearings held since Michelle Despain's arrest. They wore buttons with pictures of their son and have created an organization called Marc's Place, which helps family members of those involved in violent crime.

"This is a tough, scary, draining process," Tana Despain said of the past three years since her son's death. "People deal differently with these types of situations. This was a daily thing we dealt with."

State Desk on 08/09/2014