Spouse gets 30-year term in '11 slaying

Jonesboro victim’s mother: ‘There’ll never be closure’

JONESBORO -- A Craighead County circuit judge sentenced Michelle Despain to 30 years in prison Wednesday for her role in the August 2011 slaying of her husband.

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Despain, 36, was originally charged with capital murder in the Aug. 24, 2011, shooting death of her husband, Marc Despain, 34. She pleaded guilty last month to three counts of hindering prosecutorial apprehension, and Circuit Judge Victor Hill sentenced her to the time recommended by prosecutors.

Deputies took Despain, who had served two days in the Craighead County jail when arrested in May 2012 before she was released on bond, back to jail while she awaits transfer to an Arkansas Department of Correction facility.

As she was led from the courtroom, Despain turned to her mother, Kathy Luke, and stepfather, Kevin Luke, and said, "I love you," before deputies escorted her into a hallway.

"There'll never be closure," said Tana Despain, Marc Despain's mother, after the sentencing hearing. "Marc's gone. That's just a reality. Nothing will bring him back.

"We're focusing on the good memories now."

Marc Despain was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Jenni Lane home the couple shared in southwest Jonesboro in what police termed a "murder-for-hire" plot. Police arrested three people within a week of the shooting, including Michelle Despain's father, Carl Dewayne Kelley.

Kelley pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Terrance Odell Barker of Jonesboro also received a 35-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, and Johnny Hubbard of Jonesboro is serving 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to hindering apprehension.

Prosecutors debated about proceeding with Despain's capital-murder trial but opted for the negotiated plea because much of the case was based on circumstantial evidence, said Craighead County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mike Walden.

Text messages between Michelle Despain and her father on the day of the slaying were "essential" to the case, but defense attorneys argued about their admissibility in court. Hill had yet to rule on whether to allow the messages in the trial when Despain agreed to the plea.

"We had to admit that those text messages were essential to a favorable result," Walden said. "If they were excluded, this would have been a very difficult case to win."

Walden would not comment on what information the text messages contained.

"We have four people in the Arkansas Department of Correction as a result of the hard work of the Jonesboro Police Department," he said. "We've got the one who pulled the trigger; the father-in-law, who was the mastermind; and two others.

"I think that's a good result."

Before her plea, Despain's trial had been scheduled to begin Sept. 8.

Ray Nickle, one of two Jonesboro attorneys who represented Despain, said he felt that despite the lack of evidence, pretrial publicity of the case would have made it difficult to defend his client.

"I believe this is the way it should be," he said of the negotiated plea.

Defense attorney Bill Stanley had asked Hill to move the trial to another city in August 2013, but Hill denied that request.

"There was no evidence she was present at the [slaying]," Stanley said. "Her father had said there was no involvement on her behalf until after the fact."

About 100 people, mostly friends and family of Marc Despain, attended the brief hearing Wednesday. Some wore buttons featuring Marc Despain's picture.

Tana Despain said she relived her son's death each day while she waited for the trial. She and her husband, Jack Despain, created a resource center for victims of violent crime called Marc's Place in honor of their son.

"If we could have gotten all our evidence, we would have gotten a trial," she said. "But we don't have to worry about her [Michelle Despain] anymore."

State Desk on 09/18/2014

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