More than eight years after her husband was shot to death at their New Albany home, 42-year-old Teresa Mason was sentenced to eight years at the Indiana Department of Correction.
Mason, of Paoli Pike in New Albany, entered a blind plea last month to the charge of class C felony reckless homicide.
Mason shot her estranged husband, Walter Mason, 41, in his head at their home on Chartres Street. He was found in the bathroom and was pronounced dead the next morning at University Hospital in Louisville.
At a sentencing hearing on Monday, Superior Court No. 3 Judge Maria Granger sentenced Mason to eight years in prison, the maximum penalty for a class C felony.
“It was a difficult case. It’s a case that’s been around for a long time,” Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said after the hearing.
The state’s case has been flawed almost from the beginning. Henderson said that before he became prosecutor, investigators misplaced evidence that included a 911 tape from Teresa Mason after the shooting.
Mason was charged with murder in 2004, but the case was dismissed because of the missing evidence. After the manufacturer of the recording equipment recovered the audio from the harddrive, the case was brought before a grand jury this year. Mason was indicted in May on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter.
“It wasn’t the best investigation to work from,” Henderson said.
Still, the prosecutor said he believes they reached a fair outcome.
“We had two volatile people here in a relationship, and alcohol was a contributing factor on both sides,” Henderson said. “The facts and circumstances of this case really warranted the C felony. Ultimately, it was the proper outcome.”
Mason’s public defender, J. Patrick Biggs, did not return calls seeking comment.
Recent Local News
November 24, 2009
New Albany woman receives 8 years in death of husband
Teresa Mason pleaded guilty to reckless homicide
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