Donna Herring Gets 41 Months for Fake Will

Donna Herring walks outside of the U.S. District Courthouse in El Dorado on Tuesday. She was sentenced to 41 months in prison for forging a fake will for Deepwater Horizon survivor Matthew Seth Jacobs. (Mark Friedman)

EL DORADO — Donna Herring, the former Camden real estate agent, was sentenced Tuesday to 41 months in federal prison for orchestrating the infamous fake will case. 

“I am not a horrible person, but I did make a horrible mistake, and it was a crime,” Herring said in a written statement read by her defense attorney, Erin Cassinelli of Little Rock. “I take full responsibility for my actions and humbly ask for you to accept my admission of guilt. I am truly sorry.”

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Susan O. Hickey sentenced Herring to the low end of the federal guideline range for her crime, and her prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Herring pleaded guilty in 2018 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to create a fake will for Matthew Seth Jacobs. Jacobs survived the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in 2010 and had received sizable settlements before he died at 34 in a one-car accident in January 2015.

Herring created a fake will so that the bulk of Jacobs’ $1.7 million estate would go to her daughter, Jordan Alexandra Peterson, with whom Jacobs had had a romantic relationship, instead of Jacobs’ only child, Jordan Jacobs.

In her statement, Herring apologized to Jacobs’ son, who was “just a kid” who was “put through a stressful situation that a person your age should never have to endure.” She also apologized to her daughter, who pleaded guilty in January 2018 to her role in the plot. “I never thought about how my wrongdoing could hurt you,” the statement said.

Herring had told investigators that Jacobs drafted a will — which she said she “probably” destroyed — that left “everything” to her daughter. Herring said she created the fake will so Jacobs’ son wouldn’t be “left completely out,” according to the plea agreement. The fraudulent will left all but $50,000 of Jacobs’ estate to Peterson. Jacobs’ son received the $50,000 to use for “college or trade school,” according to court documents. 

The fake will was filed with the Ouachita County Circuit Court in March 2015. Peterson eventually entered into a settlement agreement with Jacobs’ son over the will. And he received the $50,000 plus an additional $250,000. The total value of the estate assets given to Peterson was estimated at $1.3 million. 

When FBI investigators first questioned Herring in July 2016, she first “denied knowing that the will was fraudulent,” her plea agreement said. “However, Herring later admitted that she knew the will was fraudulent.”

Herring’s sister and brother-in-law, Marion “Diane” Kinley and John Wayne Kinley Jr., pleaded pleaded guilty to participating in the fake will scheme in April 2018. John Wayne Kinley was to be sentenced Tuesday afternoon. Diane Kinley, like Peterson, will be sentenced Wednesday. 

A restitution hearing for all defendants is set for Thursday. Jordan Jacobs said in court papers that he’s entitled to $735,427 in restitution.