The Pensacola woman charged with lighting a gas station clerk on fire after dousing her in gasoline was sentenced to life in a Florida prison Wednesday afternoon.
Betty McFadden entered a no contest plea to attempted first-degree premeditated murder in November 2023, and Circuit Judge Linda Nobles levied the sentence despite hearing expert testimony of McFadden’s severe mental illness.
“While I recognize that you have a mental illness, you are absolutely a dangerous human being,” Nobles told McFadden before sentencing her. “What the family said in their letters, to not let you have an opportunity to do this to another person or another family, is of utmost importance to me.”
One of the letters given to the court was written by Joie Hellmich, the clerk at a Circle K gas station at the corner of North W Street and Massachusetts Avenue who McFadden lit on fire.
Assistant State Attorney Trey Myers read aloud Hellmich’s letter, which said she’s trying to “love herself again” after sustaining second-and-third-degree burns on 33% of her body.