Attempted murder charges against woman dismissed
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2008
Beaver
A Fayetteville woman accused of trying to kill her boyfriend by setting his apartment complex on fire won’t go to prison after pleading guilty to lesser charges Wednesday.
Crystal A. Beaver, 27, entered a negotiated guilty plea to terroristic threatening, reckless burning and endangering the welfare of minors.
She was sentenced to time served — 294 days in the Washington County Detention Center — plus six years probation. She was also ordered to pay $ 1, 945 in restitution plus fees and costs.
Beaver was initially charged with three counts of three different felonies: attempted murder, reckless burning and endangering the welfare of minors.
Prosecutors dismissed the attempted murder charges Tuesday and filed amended charges of terroristic threatening and three counts of both reckless burning and endangering the welfare of minors.
The state could not prove attempted murder charges because the boyfriend was not home at the time Beaver set the fires, said Meika Hatcher, 4 th Judicial District senior deputy prosecutor.
Beaver is accused on Nov. 6 of setting three small fires in and around her apartment complex at 278 E. 12 th St. in Fayetteville. The endangering charge was filed because three children were asleep inside her apartment when the second fire was lit.
She told police she started the fires because her boyfriend had been mean and abusive toward her, and she wanted out of the relationship, according to the arrest report.
Beaver was declared not fit to proceed in May after an initial evaluation found that she did not have the capacity to assist in her own defense and that she suffered from a mild level of retardation.
She was sent to Arkansas State Hospital for treatment and further evaluation. The most recent report by Michael Simon, staff forensic psychologist for the hospital, found that she does not have a mental disease or defect and is fit to stand trial.
She was diagnosed as suffering from borderline personality disorder, malingering and abuse of alcohol and cannabis with a history of methamphetamine use.
The latest report suggested Beaver “ made a concerted effort to present herself as more impaired than she really is. ” This report also stated that she did not suffer from retardation.
Beaver has been returned to the Washington County Detention Center. Her attorney can request an independent evaluation, agree that she is ready to stand trial or challenge the report’s findings in a competency hearing.
Beaver initially blamed all three fires on a neighbor, but Fayetteville police said she eventually admitted to setting the fires.
The first blaze was a small grass fire in front of Beaver’s residence. The second fire, reported just two hours later, originated from a plastic container in a vacant apartment unit adjacent to Beaver’s residence, according to police reports. The third fire was set inside a laundry room facility.
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