ALBANY — An appeals court overturned the attempted first-degree murder conviction of a 43-year-old city man Thursday after ruling his dousing of a woman in lighter fluid before setting her ablaze did not constitute torture.
Houston Ketter III is currently serving a 50-year-to-life sentence in state prison after he was convicted in 2023 in Albany County Court of attempted first- and second-degree murder and first-degree assault for lighting the woman on fire the year prior in order to make an “example” out of her because she owed him drug money. He then “turned around and laughed,” prosecutors said. He was also convicted of first-degree assault for burning another woman, his girlfriend at the time, with a heated pot and lit cigarette.
Ketter appealed his conviction and sentence, which included 25 years to life in prison for the attempted murder charge and 25 years in prison and five years parole for all other charges; all were to run concurrently save for the assault of the second woman, totaling 50 years to life in prison…