A jury has found a Hattiesburg woman guilty of one count of attempted capital murder in relation to a murder-for-hire scheme in which she planned to take out a hit on a woman who was allegedly seeing her ex-boyfriend.
The verdict for 43-year-old Shameka Latrice Hall was returned November 16 during a trial that was presided over by 12th Circuit Court Judge Robert Helfrich. Hall has been remanded into the custody of the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office while a pre-sentence investigation is conducted.
Helfrich is expected to pass down a sentence at a later time.
Police became aware of the murder-for-hire plot after working with Hall’s stepbrother, Bernardo Loftin, who was able to record Hall discussing the murder with him. Lofin decided to give his stepsister up after she approached him for help on the matter, because Loftin was on parole at the time and was concerned he was being set up.
Loftin recorded Hall asking him to travel to Kansas City to carry out the hit, as that was where the intended victim was staying at the time. Loftin asked Hall for $2,000 – with $500 up front – for the murder.
Hall was arrested by members of the Hattiesburg Police Department on November 18, 2022 and charged with the aforementioned crime. She was taken into custody after a she and Loftin were pulled over during a traffic stop in which Loftin purposefully ran a stop sign to allow police to instigate a traffic stop.
