BY JIM HANNAH • JHANNAH@NKY.COM • DECEMBER 24, 2010
FORT THOMAS - Cheryl McCafferty is hopeful, but scared, about her upcoming parole hearing, a friend says.
"She is doing fine," said Jackie Herman, who has exchanged letters with McCafferty every month since she was convicted in March 2009 of fatally shooting her husband, Robert McCafferty, in their Fort Thomas home. "Prison is not very good, but from what I gather, her spirits are pretty good."
Cheryl McCafferty's parole hearing is Jan. 13. Under Kentucky law, she is eligible for parole after serving 20 percent of the 18-year sentence she was given for first-degree manslaughter.
• Photos: McCafferty evidence
• Photos: McCafferty sentencing
• Photos: McCafferty found guilty
While McCafferty, 46, has declined interview requests since her arrest, Herman said there is a group of about 70 women who are lobbying for McCafferty's parole. Herman said it does society no good to continue to have her in prison.
"She could be out and teaching women how to cope with domestic violence," said Herman, who befriended McCafferty after attending her trial out of curiosity.
Robert McCafferty's father, 81-year-old Richard McCafferty, would not say if Robert McCafferty's family would oppose parole.
Campbell Commonwealth's Attorney Michelle Snodgrass said she will speak to the parole board but wouldn't reveal what she planned to say.
"For the family's sake, I just don't want to say anything more at this point," she said.
McCafferty testified at her trial that she killed her husband in June 2007 because she feared for her life because of prior spousal abuse. She told authorities that her 44-year-old husband was trying to kill her, so she shot him in bed while their children slept in another part of the home.
Cheryl McCafferty's parents, Tom and Betty Gosney, said they did not wish to make a public statement.
McCafferty's daughter, Molly, 19, is living with the Gosneys in Erlanger, working and attending the University of Cincinnati. She transferred this year from the University of Louisville to be closer to her brother, said a member of Cheryl McCafferty's family.
Herman said she was planning to send the parole board what she described as a heart-touching essay about the "shapes and forms" domestic violence takes that was written by Molly for a college course.
McCafferty's son, 16-year-old Patrick, is living with Robert McCafferty's sister, Mary Beth Exeler, and attending Highlands High School in Fort Thomas.
Eight people are authorized to visit Cheryl McCafferty at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women. The prison is just east of Louisville in Pewee Valley, about a 90-minute drive from Fort Thomas. It averages 682 inmates that are held in a campus-style setting with multiple housing units, double and single bunked. The prison holds everyone from women convicted of non-violent crimes to the only woman on Kentucky's Death Row.
McCafferty's visitor list includes the Gosneys, sister Jill Provenzano, and former neighbors Mary Jo Wickelhause and Suzanna Lorenz. One, or both, of Cheryl McCafferty's children have visited her every week since she was sent to prison, the family member said.
• Photos: McCafferty on trial
• Photos: McCafferty arraignment
• Photos: Bob McCafferty
Cheryl McCafferty has been a model prisoner, according to corrections department records. While she once earned more than $80,000 per year as an advertising sales representative for The Cincinnati Enquirer, she now does stitching and embroidery for the Division of Correctional Industries.
She has completed a 20-week program designed to present inmates with information necessary to help them with their re-entry into society and is receiving job training, according to the corrections department records.
Two members of the parole board will conduct the hearing in person or via teleconference. Their decision must be unanimous for an offender to be granted parole. If not, a majority decision must then be rendered by a vote of the full nine-member parole board.
The board can parole McCafferty with specific conditions, defer a decision for a specific number of months or years or order McCafferty to serve out her entire sentence.
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