BENTONVILLE — A Springdale woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison Monday for trying to hire a man to kill a local judge and another man.
Dorris Jenkins, 38, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit capital murder.
Jenkins admitted to soliciting a man to kill Judge Brad Karren and Jerry Ingram. She didn't know the man was an undercover detective.
Jenkins was in the Benton County jail May 31, 2018 when she asked another inmate, who was a confidential informant, if she knew someone who would "take out a judge," according to a probable cause affidavit.
The informant introduced Jenkins to an undercover sheriff's detective playing the role of her brother, according to the affidavit.
The informant and undercover detective met with Jenkins and Adan Taylor, Jenkins' fiance, to discuss the murder. Detectives recorded the meeting, according to the affidavit.
Jenkins said she thought Karren was unfair and she had a list of 15 people she wanted killed, according to the affidavit. The detective told her it was expensive, and Jenkins trimmed the list to two people, according to the affidavit. The affidavit didn't specify other names on the list.
Jenkins asked the undercover detective to kill Karren for a computer tablet and sound bar, according to the affidavit. The tablet was at Jenkins' home, but the sound bar had been pawned, and Jenkins did not know when she would be able to pay for it, according to the affidavit.
Taylor said he would get the sound bar out and get it to the undercover detective as payment, according to the affidavit.
Jenkins also offered an original print photograph of Marilyn Monroe valued at $25,000 as an additional payment for the hit, according to court documents.
Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecutor, told the judge Ingram was also a target in Jenkins' plot. Ingram was facing his own drug crimes, Cearley said.
Jenkins had pleaded guilty to drug charges in February 2018, but she said that case had nothing to do with her wanting to have Karren killed.
"You understand it's hard for us to believe that," Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green said Monday.
The judge said Jenkins did everything in her power to have Karren killed, and he could have been murdered, except Jenkins was communicating with a police officer instead of a hired assassin.
Cearley said Karren did not oppose the plea agreement.
Green sentenced Jenkins to 40 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. The judge also sentenced her to 10 years in prison in connection with her guilty plea in 2018. The sentences will run consecutively, so her total sentence is 50 years.
Jenkins was ordered not to have any contact with Karren and his family, along with Ingram.
Taylor was also arrested in connection with the plot and his case has not been resolved. He was sentenced to six years in prison in July after he admitted to violating his probation in connection with a guilty plea in 2018 to aggravated assault to a family or house member.