FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
July 6, 2012
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Alabama Attorney General
Suzanne Webb (334) 242-7351
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AG STRANGE ANNOUNCES INDICTMENT OF WOMAN
FOR SOLICITATION TO HAVE JUDGE AND INVESTIGATOR KILLED
(MONTGOMERY)–Attorney General Luther Strange announced the indictment
of a woman, already convicted for trying to have an individual murdered for financial
gain, for additional charges that she tried to have a judge and investigator maimed or
murdered. Marie Billingsley, 59, has been served notice of her indictment at the
Tutwiler Prison for Women where she currently is incarcerated for these previous
crimes.
Billingsley was convicted on December 8, 2011, of criminal solicitation to commit
murder and three counts of second-degree forgery. The Attorney General’s Office
presented evidence during a trial in Dallas County Circuit Court about Billingsley’s
scheme to murder a woman and collect approximately $400,000 of life insurance.
Marie Billingsley solicited a third person to assist in the murder. That person instead
informed authorities of the murder plot. Although the third person did not know the
victim’s name, special agents of the Attorney General’s Office worked to locate and
identify the victim, thus preventing the murder. Using this limited information the
agents further discovered Billingsley’s forgeries of multiple life insurance policies.
On April 16, 2012, Billingsley was sentenced to 21 years for solicitation to commit
murder and to two years for each of the three forgery convictions, with these sentences
to run concurrently.
On April 18, 2012, the Attorney General’s Office presented additional evidence to
a Dallas County grand jury, resulting in Billingsley’s indictment on the following four
counts:
- criminal solicitation to commit murder by soliciting someone to murder the judge
who had heard the trial of her previous case; - criminal solicitation to commit murder by soliciting someone to murder an
investigator who had worked on the case; - criminal solicitation to commit first degree assault by soliciting someone to
“disfigure seriously and permanently or to destroy, amputate or disable
permanently a member or organ of (the judge’s) body.”
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us Page 2 of 2 - criminal solicitation to commit first degree assault by soliciting someone to
“disfigure seriously and permanently or to destroy, amputate or disable
permanently a member or organ of (the investigator’s) body.”
No further information about the investigation or about Billingsley’s alleged
crimes other than that stated in the indictment may be released at this time.
If convicted of the charges in the April indictment, Billingsley faces a potential
penalty of life imprisonment for each charge of solicitation to commit murder, and 15
years to life imprisonment for each charge of solicitation to commit first-degree assault
Attorney General Strange commended those involved in the investigation and
prosecution of this case, noting in particular Assistant Attorney General Andrew
Arrington of the Violent Crimes Division, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, and
Special Agents of the Attorney General’s Investigations Division.
*An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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