Waco woman sentenced after pleading guilty to dousing victim with gasoline, setting her on fire

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A 65-year-old Waco woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday in an incident for which she already has served more than seven years in prison.

Rosalind Rena Hill pleaded guilty Thursday to a first-degree felony arson charge in an April 2015 altercation in which she threw gasoline on Vivian K. Walker and lit her on fire.

Walker, then 45, was burned over 40 percent of her body and died from complications from those burns in October 2016.

Hill pleaded guilty to aggravated assault five months before Walker died and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors sought a murder indictment against Hill in October 2018 as a result of Walker’s death. However, after negotiations with Hill’s attorney, Jonathan Sibley, prosecutor Sharon Pruitt filed a superseding charge of arson on Wednesday.

Instead of alleging murder, the superseding count alleges Hill damaged a home in the 400 block of Carver Avenue that belonged to Walker and ultimately caused her death.

Waco police have said Hill and Walker were involved in an argument when Hill threw gas on Walker and set her on fire.

Sibley sought to dismiss the murder charge, alleging double jeopardy. He argued that prosecutors were charging Hill with murder after she already pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, claiming she was being charged twice for the same action in the same incident, but with a different result.

Judge Susan Kelly accepted Hill’s plea agreement on Thursday and ordered her two 15-year sentences to run concurrently. She also gave Hill credit for incarceration time dating back to April17, 2015.

Sibley said Hill will be eligible for parole this month.

“This is a great result for Ms. Hill, who had already accepted responsibility and been punished for the injury to the victim in this case,” Sibley said. “She will likely be released soon and be reunited with her family, who is anxious to see her in person, hug her and welcome her home.

“Although we feel like the new indictment was unnecessary, we appreciate the attorneys for the state working with us on this negotiated agreement that recognizes the punishment that Ms. Hill had already received and allows her certainty that she will continue to be eligible for release later this month,” Sibley said.

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