Christina Scroggin of Mountain Home who was convicted of manslaughter in 2015 in the shooting death of her boyfriend, Raul Turrieta III, has been granted parole by the Arkansas Parole Board. Scroggin’s hearing was conducted last week, according to the Arkansas Victims’ Information Network.When her parole came up 2017, it was denied. The denial came because of the nature and seriousness of the crime, the crime involved a death, and a weapon being involved, according to a report prepared by a Parole Board commissioner.Several local officials, including Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery and 14th Judicial District Deputy Prosecutor Kerry Chism, testified against Scroggin’s release in 2016.
The 2016 report said Scroggin had a number of supporters in her bid for parole, including her counselor. It was pointed out Scroggin has completed a number of programs since her incarceration, including mental health, anger management, domestic violence and parenting. According to prison records, the last program she completed was a cosmetology course in September.
In April 2015, she was sentenced to eight years in prison for the then 24-year-old Turrieta’s death. He was shot and killed in 2013 along a remote road in Marion County where the couple stopped on a trip back to Mountain Home from Little Rock.
Scroggin was convicted by a Marion County jury of manslaughter. Prosecutors originally charged her with first-degree murder.
The jury rejected that charge and opted instead for the lesser included offense of manslaughter. A jury has the option of finding a person guilty of a lesser included offense, if jurors have reasonable doubt as to guilt in the more serious crime.
Scroggin’s attorney told the jury during the trial the case was not about who killed Turrieta. He said his client pulled the trigger. The question for jurors to decide is why the shooting took place.
The defense relied heavily on self-defense as a justification for her actions. Scroggin, who testified for about five hours during the trial, said Turrieta had physically, verbally and sexually abused her during their relationship.
The prosecution put on a number of witnesses to refute the picture of Turrieta as an unfeeling abuser and rapist. Scroggin testified Turrieta presented himself as an “awesome guy” in public, but things turned ugly behind closed doors. The prosecution asked the jury not to buy Scroggin’s “Jekyll and Hyde” story.
Scroggin remains listed as an inmate in the McPherson Unit of the state prison system at Newport. No date has been announced for her release.
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