Jackson woman convicted of attempted murder by fire

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- A Mississippi County jury deliberated two hours Tuesday before it found a Jackson woman guilty of arson, attempted murder and burglary.

The jury recommended that Tara McClanahan serve 20 years for the arson, 10 years for attempted murder and five years for the burglary. After the trial, Circuit Judge David Dolan revoked McClanahan's bond and set another bond of $100,000 cash only. She was taken to the Mississippi County Jail, where she is expected to remain until her April 1 sentencing.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said a person convicted of arson must serve 85 percent of the sentence.

McClanahan was tried for her role in breaking into her mother's house in June and setting it on fire while her mother, Billie Davis of Jackson, was asleep in the bedroom. The motive apparently was money.

During the sentencing phase of the trial, the prosecution called Scott Wright, 24, who lives in a sheltered workshop. Wright testified that because he wanted to be McClanahan's friend he agreed to lie for her and confess to having set the fire along with Mark Messmer, who testified against McClanahan Monday.

But when state fire marshal Butch Amann took Wright to the fire scene, Swingle said, Wright could not identify where the fire started. When confronted, Wright admitted that McClanahan had asked him to lie for her.

That and the testimony of stockbroker Juanita Penfield of Jackson, who handled Davis' investments, apparently convinced the jury that other witnesses, including Davis, were covering for McClanahan. Co-defendant Juanita Holderbaugh, who negotiated a 10-year sentence in exchange for her testimony, recanted her testimony Monday.

Swingle said Holderbaugh had reason to lie for McClanahan because she is engaged to McClanahan's brother and "she has visions of future family reunions," he said. Penfield, on the other hand, had no reason to lie when she testified that Davis told her that she knew McClanahan had been involved in the attempt on her life.

Admitted whippings, abuse

Despite the loving mother-daughter relationship McClanahan and Davis tried to portray for the jury, Davis admitted under Swingle's questioning that she had whipped McClanahan as a child, that McClanahan had been taken from her custody in the past because of reported child abuse, and that just earlier that day Davis had threatened bodily harm to Swingle.

Defense attorney Jason Tilley did not return a call asking whether he planned to appeal.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160