Herring, Kinley get extension

— By BRADLY GILL

Staff writer

A judge has granted a motion of extension for time to file sentencing memorandum as to Donna Christina Herring and Marion Diane Kinley, according to court documents.

Any Sentencing Memorandum deemed beneficial to the Court must be filed no later than November 15 Responses must be filed no later than 7 days after the filing of the Sentencing Memorandum. No further extensions will be granted.

All charges stem from a federal indictment indicating the defendants in the falsification of a will belonging to Matthew Seth Jacobs, who was injured in a Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion and received a multi-million-dollar settlement, which was payable beginning April 2012.

Jacobs died in an automobile accident on Jan. 19, 2015, at the age of 34.

After Jacobs’ death, his son - Jordan Jacobs, along with Matthew Jacobs’ brother - Laurence Reed, searched Jacobs’ home for his last will and testament but were unable to locate it.

On Jan. 25, 2015, Donna Herring claimed to have discovered in a gun safe in Jacobs’ home a sealed envelope containing a duplicate of the will and testament. The ‘will’ left Jacobs’ son $50,000 for his education, and the remaining assets to Herring’s daughter.

Court documents also show that the Kinleys helped Herring create a fraudulent last will and testament on Jacobs by using a debit card assigned to Marion Diane Kinley on the FormSwift.com website.

All four parties have been free on bond and await sentencing.

A previous motion was filed and granted that allowed the four family members to have contact, as one of the previous conditions of release was that “the defendants avoid all contact, directly or indirectly with any persons who are or who may become a victim or potential witness in the subject investigation of the prosecution.”

The Kinley’s were allowed direct contact with each other, unrelated to the subject investigation or prosecution, because they are spouses.

However, Peterson was allowed contact with her mother, but Herring was not allowed contact with Peterson.

The defendants filed a motion to request resolution to the contact stipulations.

The motion was granted.

Donna Herring, Alex Peterson, Marion Diane Kinley and John Wayne Kinley Jr. filed a second joint motion in October for modification of conditions of release. Herring and Peterson are mother and daughter, respectively. The Kinleys are Herring’s sister and brother-in-law.

That motion stated:

“Defendants in this case are related family members, residing in close proximity within a small, rural community. Pursuant to the conditions of release, defendants have severely curtailed their contacts with friends and extended non-defendant family members in order to avoid any inadvertent contact with each other or potential witnesses who might be called during the investigation or trial of this case.

“This has limited their opportunities for social interactions and activities in their very small community and has resulted in an undue hardship on the defendants. In addition, defendants note that the holiday season is approaching, during which a number of social activities would normally occur.

“As indicated above, each of the defendants has entered a guilty plea and is currently awaiting the scheduling of a sentencing hearing. Therefore, defendants respectfully request that the Conditions of Release (ECF 82) as modified by the court and currently in effect, be further modified to permit contact of all defendants with each other and any other person, without restriction, other than that they refrain from discussion of the instant case pending appearance for sentencing.”

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