Colorado Forestry Worker’s Arson Sentence Thrown Out

A 12-year prison sentence handed down to a forestry worker who ignited the worst fire in Colorado history was thrown out Thursday on the grounds that it was prejudiced and too harsh.

The Colorado Court of Appeals ordered a new sentencing hearing for Terry Lynn Barton, who pleaded guilty to fourth-degree arson in setting the 2002 Hayman fire, which burned 138,000 acres.

The court said state District Judge Edward Colt, who sentenced Barton to twice the normal prison term, was so personally involved in the fire that he was unable to be impartial.

During the sentencing, Colt told Barton how he was forced to evacuate his home because of smoke from the fire and later volunteered at the Salvation Army, giving food to others rendered homeless by the blaze. His clerk was overheard saying Barton should “receive more than death” for setting the fire, the appeals court said.

Such personal involvement, the court ruled, could reasonably “call the judge’s impartiality into question.”

During the original court proceedings, Colt denied a motion to recuse himself from the case.

“The parties would be hard-pressed to find a judge in Colorado who did not witness flames and/or smoke from this fire either personally or through extensive coverage on television, radio and in print,” Colt wrote, adding that the law didn’t prohibit judges from helping needy residents in emergencies.

Barton started the fire after burning a letter from her former husband in a parched area of Pike National Forest near Denver. The resulting blaze burned 300 buildings and caused $29 million in property damage. More than 8,000 people fled their homes.

The ruling doesn’t affect a separate six-year sentence Barton is serving on federal charges stemming from the fire. She is serving the state and federal sentences concurrently.

The appeals court said Colt erred by doubling the usual sentence for the crime. Colt had reasoned that because Barton was a forestry worker, she would have known how dangerous it was to start a fire in drought conditions. He said the fire was set under “extraordinarily aggravating” circumstances.

The appeals court said Barton was never told she had a right to have a jury determine aggravating factors.

“I haven’t talked to her yet, but I’m sure she is ecstatic,” said Sharlene Reynolds, Barton’s attorney. “She has two teenagers she is eager to get home to.”

Reynolds predicted that Barton would finish her six-year federal sentence and then get paroled. The state attorney general’s office has not decided whether it will appeal the decision.