Man Who Shoved Wife Off Cliff In Colorado Loses SCOTUS Appeal

DENVER, CO -- The U.S. Supreme Court closed the last door of possible appeal Monday for a Colorado 'black widower' convicted of shoving his second wife off a cliff to her death in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2012, shortly after taking out a multimillion-dollar insurance policy on her life.

But it was the suspicious 1995 death of the first-Mrs. Harold Henthorn, insured for hundreds-of-thousands, that Henthorn's lawyers believed could overturn his 2015 conviction for the death of Toni Bertolet Henthorn. Specifically, Henthorn's lawyers argued last year in the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson should not have allowed evidence from the earlier "accidental" death of his first wife into the proceedings. The Denver-based appeals court ruled affirming Henthorn's conviction in July. Henthorn's lawyers petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the appeal under a "writ of certiorari," but the court denied the petition Jan. 8.

"This case presents us with the difficult issue of whether a district court presiding over a murder trial abused its discretion in admitting evidence of prior, similar incidents, including whether the defendant killed his second wife in circumstances similar to those that led to the death of his first wife," the Appeals Court wrote in July.

Hen thorn, formerly of Highlands Ranch, is now serving a life sentence in federal prison.

In September, 2012, Toni Henthorn, a 50-year-old ophthalmologist, fell more than 120 feet to her death from a cliff during a hike to celebrate the couple's 12th wedding anniversary. Harold had amassed insurance policies totaling $4.7 million on his wife only weeks before, court documents said. The couple left the steep Deer Mountain trail, ate lunch and took selfies and then and climbed to a rocky cliff in a remote location far from cell phone reception. Harold Henthorn told investigators he was unfamiliar with the park, but his phone location tracker showed he had visited the park eight or nine times in the six weeks prior to Toni's death. Park rangers later found a detailed map in Harold's car with a pink X on the location of his wife's death. Also, emergency workers noted he did not seem out of breath while allegedly performing CPR on his wife as she lay dying. He lied to investigators about how much life insurance his wife carried, court documents said.

During Henthorn's criminal trial, evidence was admitted from the 1995 accidental death of his first wife of 11 years, Sandra "Lynn" Henthorn as well a 2011 accidental injury of Toni at the couple's mountain vacation home. The evidence was allowable under federal law as a means of proving planning and intent, as well as "preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident,” the 10th Circuit's decision said. In jury instructions, Judge Jackson urged that the jury "consider the evidence about this incident only for the following limited purposes: (1) rebutting the defense that Toni Henthorn’s death was an accident; and (2) establishing planning and intent by the defendant regarding Toni Henthorn’s death."

In May, 1995, Harold's first wife Lynn Henthorn died of "mysterious circumstances" at night on a remote road near Sedalia when the couple's Jeep fell on top of her while the couple were changing a tire. Harold Henthorn had taken out more than $500,000 in life insurance policies on his wife. Investigators found that the tire was not flat, only low on air, and that Harold had jacked up the vehicle with boat jacks, claiming the auto jack was malfunctioning. Harold rebuffed help from good Samaritans, including an auto mechanic who offered to shine his headlights on the scene. Harold told investigators his wife reached under the vehicle to retrieve a lug nut and the car lost its balance and fell on her. Investigators found a mysterious shoe print on the rear bumper of the Jeep, but failed to match it with a print taken from Harold's shoe. After the accident, Harold also refused to allow other Samaritans to perform CPR or cover his wife with a coat in the freezing temperatures. Lynn was taken by helicopter to a hospital, but died. Suspicious, some of the witnesses asked police for an investigation, but Harold was never charged. The Douglas Co. Sheriff's office re-opened the investigation into Lynn Henthorn's death after Harold was charged with Toni Henthorn's murder.

The other piece of evidence permitted in the Toni Henthorn murder trial was a May, 2011 night-time accident at the couple's Grand Lake cabin where Harold "accidentally" threw a 20-foot heavy wooden beam over the side of the cabin's deck as Toni stood on the ground below, striking her on the neck and back and causing serous injuries, court documents said. Investigators questioned why Harold was allegedly making repairs on the deck at 10 p.m.

The appeals court found the inclusion of both pieces of evidence admissible in Henthorn's criminal trial. Henthorn's lawyers had 90 days to submit the rarely used writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, but SCOTUS denied Henthorn's petition. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who formerly served as a judge on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, recused himself. "[Gorsuch] took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition," the SCOTUS decision said.

A third woman believed she might have been groomed to be Henthorn's next victim. Texas single mother Grace Rishell met Harold in the 1980s and had divorced first-wife Lynn Henthorn's brother, but Harold Henthorn remained close to her and the family. The month before Toni Henthorn's death, Harold had visited Rishell with his daughter and wined-and-dined Rishell and her children, even paying for a speedboat ride. Rishell later found out that Henthorn had secretly forged her signature on a $250,000 life insurance policy for her children, changing the beneficiary to himself.

When Toni Henthorn died, Sept. 29 2012, Harold sent Rishell an email, “My bride is gone,” which, she told the Denver Post, exactly matched the email he sent her in 1995 when Lynn Henthorn died. Harold also rushed to have his second wife's body cremated, against the family's wishes, just as he had done with Lynn's.

“It was deja vu,” Rishell told the Post.

10th Circuit Henthorn Ruling by JeanLotus on Scribd

Image: Selfie taken in Rocky Mountain National Park Sept. 29, 2012, by Harold and Toni Henthorn before Toni's fatal fall off a cliff. Courtesy: U.S. District Court, Colorado.