Woman Who Helped Her Fiancé Kill His Ex Beats One Life Sentence

A Texas woman found guilty of helping her then-fiance brutally murder his ex-girlfriend won on Wednesday an appeal to undo her conviction and a consecutive life sentence for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

Cyberstalking that results in death under 18 U.S.C. 2261A(2)(B) isn’t categorically a “crime of violence,” so Holly Ann Elkins’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924 can’t stand, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said.

Elkins and her former fiance, Andrew Beard, wanted sole custody of Beard’s child. When false police reports against his ex, Alyssa Burkett, failed to accomplish that goal, ...