Death Penalty Waived for Man Who Allegedly Set Wife on Fire

HOPE — A man accused of pouring weed eater gas on his wife and lighting her on fire in July won’t face the death penalty, according to a notice filed Wednesday, September 4, 2024 by Hempstead County prosecutors.

Bruce Lee Cockrell Jr., 47, was arrested by the Hempstead County Sheriff’s Office for arson and capital murder after allegedly pouring gasoline on his wife and setting her on fire July 8. He has been charged with capital murder and arson as a habitual offender, court records show.

A notice filed Wednesday and signed by Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hale of the Eighth North Judicial District of Arkansas waives the death penalty for Cockrell, who faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of capital murder in Tonya Cockrell’s death.

Tonya Cockrell, 35, reportedly told medical personnel at a Texarkana hospital where she was initially treated for her burn injuries, that Bruce Cockrell had been hitting and punching her while telling her “how ugly she was,” before dousing her with gas and lighting her body on fire. Tonya Cockrell died July 9, 2024 in the burn unit of Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, having suffered severe burns over her entire body, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Bruce Cockrell reportedly told investigators on the date of the fire that he and Tonya Cockrell were in bed when an electrical fire broke out in the bedroom and she caught fire. According to the affidavit, Bruce Cockrell suffered no burns or injuries.

At the scene, before she was transported to a Texarkana hospital for initial treatment of the burns that would eventually prove fatal, investigators noted that Tonya Cockrell told her husband to “get away” as she lay suffering, the affidavit said