Fayetteville child killer gets new sentencing hearing

Christopher Segerstrom
Christopher Segerstrom

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Supreme Court today reversed and remanded for resentencing the case of Christopher Segerstrom, who murdered a 4-year-old girl more than 30 years ago.

Segerstrom was 15 on July 26, 1986, when he took Barbara Thompson into a wooded area behind the Lewis Plaza Apartments several blocks west of the University of Arkansas. He sexually assaulted her before bashing her head with a 40-pound rock and suffocating her. He had promised to help her catch butterflies.

Segerstrom, 45, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

The U.S. and Arkansas supreme courts have ruled juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole, and Arkansas changed its law to allow life with the possibility of parole after 30 years in order to comply with the rulings.

Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay denied Segerstrom's motion for a rehearing, saying the state law applied retroactively, and resentenced Segerstrom on May 3, 2017. Because Segerstrom was given credit at his original sentencing for 11 months jail time served, he became immediately eligible to seek parole. Segerstrom was then denied parole in July 2017.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled today the 2017 state law dealing with minors who kill does not apply retroactively to Segerstrom's case and that he has to be allowed a sentencing hearing before a judge or jury for sentencing within the range for a Class Y felony, which is 10 to 40 years or life.

NW News on 02/15/2019

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