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Hornbuckle will not serve active time
Norman sentenced to 17 months
By Carey Phillips
A woman who said the shooting death of her husband was an act of self-defense will not serve active prison time.
Stephanie Lynn Hornbuckle, 31, received a suspended sentence from Judge Clarence Horton on Oct. 12 in Jackson County Superior Court.
Hornbuckle, who was originally charged with second-degree murder in connection with the June 17, 2003, death of her husband, 32-year-old Ronnie Hornbuckle, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter during the Aug. 30 Superior Court term.
Hornbuckle entered an Alford plea, meaning that she would be treated guilty by the court although she was not admitting guilt.
After hearing testimony concerning the couple's 12-year marriage and the events on the night of the shooting at their Cullowhee Mountain Road home, Judge Horton found mitigating factors meant Stephanie Hornbuckle should not serve time in prison.
Horton found that Mrs. Hornbuckle "was subjected to continuous physical, psychological and sexual abuse for most of her 12-year marriage."
The judge also found that Ronnie Hornbuckle manipulated and controlled his wife through threats and violence directed at her and the couple's children, who were ages 3 and 11 at the time of the shooting.
"On the night in question, Mr. Hornbuckle was abusive to the defendant, threatened to use force against her and the children and the defendant was acting in defense of herself and the children to protect all of them from death or great bodily harm," Horton said.
Law enforcement officers said at the time of the shooting that Ronnie Hornbuckle sustained four wounds from a .45-caliber handgun.
Horton sentenced Mrs. Hornbuckle to not less than 60 nor more than 81 months and suspended that sentence for 36 months. She was placed on supervised probation and ordered to serve six months under Electronic House Arrest. She was also ordered to pay costs, make restitution of $5,593.84 as partial compensation for attorney fees and report to a qualified agency for a psychological evaluation.
Ironically, Ronnie Hornbuckle was employed as a paralegal in the domestic violence program at the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian's Tribal Prosecutor's Office.
In another high profile case, 33-year-old David William Norman of Poplar Street, Sylva, was sentenced to not less than 17 nor more than 21 months active time after pleading guilty to attempting to traffic in methamphetamine. He was given credit for 147 days served and ordered to participate in the DART Program.
Norman was arrested in May in connection with what Sheriff Jimmy Ashe called the "largest meth lab operation we've seen in this county."
A five-gallon bucket of a seized substance later proved to be 21 pounds of meth oil, Ashe said in August after he received results of testing by the State Bureau of Investigation Lab.
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