Tulsa woman pleads to reduced charge in burning death of ex-boyfriend

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A Tulsa woman could be sentenced to life after she pleaded guilty to dousing a man with gasoline, who was later ignited with a lighter.

Julie Ann Barton entered her plea to second-degree murder in Tulsa County District Court on Tuesday, a day before a jury was seated to hear testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Barton's co-defendant, Dennis Sewell.

Barton faces life imprisonment for her role in the fatal burning of Ronald Lee Fetterhoff, whose body was discovered Dec. 8, 1999, at his residence.

Investigators believe Fetterhoff, 38, may been killed as many as five days before his body was found.

Barton, 38, was originally charged in March with first-degree murder. Sewell, 41, was charged then with being an accessory after the fact, involving an allegation that he helped her leave the scene in Fetterhoff's vehicle.

At a preliminary hearing in May, the accessory charge against Sewell was upgraded to murder. The charge against her was reduced.

District Judge Tom Gillert set Barton's sentencing for Feb. 20, with the expectation that he will impose a life prison sentence with eventual parole possible, in accordance with a plea agreement.

Barton indicated that she threw gasoline on Fetterhoff before Sewell ignited the victim, said Barton's attorney, Deputy Chief Public Defender Ron Wallace. There was evidence that they all "were under the influence of something," and Barton had no intent to kill Fetterhoff, Wallace said.

Fetterhoff and Barton had dated intermittently for years. About six weeks before his death, Fetterhoff met Sewell and accepted him as a boarder in his rental home, said Assistant District Attorney Eric Jordan.

The night before the killing, they went to a bar, and the trio fought. Jordan said Fetterhoff wanted Sewell out of his house if he and Barton were romantically involved.

Sewell's attorney, James Maier, said his client was in another room when Barton set Fetterhoff on fire in her bedroom. Maier told jurors that Barton was a "cunning, manipulative" woman who kept three men "on the hook."

Bill Cash, a truck driver who previously was romantically involved with Barton, said he saw Barton and Sewell together after Barton phoned him Dec. 4, 1999.

Cash testified that the pair were drunk, behaving erratically and "didn't make much sense." Barton and Sewell said Fetterhoff was dead and had been burned with gasoline, and "they argued about who did it," he said.

The two eventually indicated that Barton poured the gasoline while Sewell used a lighter to start the fire, but there was also a version in which Fetterhoff was responsible for burning himself, Cash said.

Jordan said evidence will indicate that Sewell told police that he saw Fetterhoff "pour gasoline on himself" and "set himself on fire."