Woman gets 15 years for arson

A woman was sentenced to 15 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections Tuesday in the Fourth Division of the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Union County.

Laloni P. Hudson, 36, of Calion, was given 15 years after making a plea agreement with the prosecution. Her attorney initially asked Judge Robin Carroll for an additional month to consider the agreement. However, Hudson, who was being housed at the Union County Jail, asked to go ahead and go through with the deal.

“I’m just ready to leave Union County. I still think [15 years] is a bit much, but I did do it, so…” Hudson said.

According to a police report, Hudson burned down a residence at 121 N. Pine in Calion. The house belonged to her husband, whom she was separated from at the time of the incident, in April of 2017.

Living in Forrest City, Ark. at the time of the crime, Hudson was in Union County to see her child in a parade. Her husband said she called and texted him all day, and then notified him that his house was on fire. He said she had threatened to burn the house down during previous arguments, according to the police report.

Hudson had been sentenced to 150 days in the Union County Jail by Judge Jack Barker. She said she wanted to go ahead and make the plea agreement to be able to move from the jail facilities.

In other court business, the court extended lenience to Joseph Belin, 37, of El Dorado. Belin was being charged with two counts of delivering methamphetamine or cocaine in an amount between two and ten grams and two counts of delivering methamphetamine or cocaine in an amount under two grams.

Belin said the week after he last appeared in court, his house caught fire and was partially destroyed. The prosecution had offered a plea agreement which included a year in the Ark. Community Correction Center, but Belin was hesitant to take the deal as it would separate him from his son.

“There’s a very strong attachment between father and son,” Belin’s attorney said.

The prosecution agreed to offer Belin a deal that did not include incarceration. He pleaded guilty to the charges of delivery of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 5 years Swift Court probation and various fees. Swift court probation is for high risk probationers who have not complied with probation requirements in the past.

“Every single day, you need to get up and understand that you cannot violate the law again,” Carroll said.