FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
June 18, 2013
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Alabama Attorney General
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AG ANNOUNCES GUILTY PLEA AS TRIAL IS SET TO BEGIN
FOR CONSPIRACY TO ASSAULT JUDGE, INVESTIGATOR;
(MONTGOMERY) – During jury selection yesterday in Dallas County Circuit
Court, a woman on the verge of trial instead pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree
criminal solicitation to commit assault in the first degree against a circuit judge and
investigator. Marie Billingsley, 60, formerly of Dallas County, was sentenced to 22 Ω years
imprisonment for each charge, both to run concurrent.
Billingsley is currently serving a total prison sentence of 21 years at Tutwiler Prison
for Women for a 2011 conviction of solicitation to commit murder and forgeries related to life
insurance fraud. Billingsley was previously convicted for trying to have an individual killed
for financial gain, including forgeries, and was sentenced in Dallas County Circuit Court on
April 16, 2012. Two days later, the Attorney General’s Office presented evidence to a Dallas
County grand jury that she had solicited someone to disfigure the circuit judge who had
heard her case and the agent who investigated the case. All cases have been prosecuted by
the Office of Attorney General Luther Strange.
“Even after this woman had been held to account for her original crimes –
conspiring to commit murder to get money from insurance policies she had forged – she
responded by conspiring to attack the judge and an investigator involved in bringing her to
justice,” said Attorney General Strange. “I am especially proud of the outstanding work of
our special agents, whose diligence and skill saved one life and prevented harm to others.”
Attorney General Strange commended those involved in handling this case, noting
in particular Assistant Attorneys General Andrew Arrington and John Hensley of his
Criminal Trials Division and special agents of the Attorney General’s Investigations Division.
He also thanked the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and
the Fourth Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force.
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501 Washington Avenue Montgomery, AL 36104 (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us
