State court denies Brownsville man’s appeal in 2004 homicide
The state Superior Court upheld the life sentence of a Brownsville man who killed his estranged girlfriend in 2004, but reduced his sentence for attempted homicide for shooting her son.
James VanDivner, 69, was convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Michelle Cable outside a home in Grindstone. He was also charged with shooting her son, Billy Cable, in the neck and sentenced to 20 to 40 years for attempted homicide and an additional 10 to 20 years for aggravated assault.
Superior Court Judge Deborah A. Kunselman found that the assault and attempted homicide sentences should have merged, meaning VanDivner should not have been sentenced on both counts. The judge vacated the 10-to-20-year sentence and let the 20-to-40-year sentence for attempted homicide stand.
The court found there was no merit to any of the issues VanDivner raised in his appeal of the life sentence.
His attorney made several claims, including questioning why the attorneys who represented VanDivner during his 2007 trial did not call certain eyewitnesses, or ask a judge to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter.
After VanDivner’s conviction in 2007, a jury voted to sentence him to death. After years of appeals, in 2016, a Fayette County judge vacated the death sentence, relying on a state Supreme Court opinion that found VanDivner was mentally disabled before he turned 18 and cannot be sentenced to death.
VanDivner remains lodged in the State Correctional Institution at Greene.