An Alabama mother paid $30,000 to have her child’s father murdered the morning he was scheduled to testify against her in a custody hearing — and a jury took just one day to convict her on all counts.
Quick Take
- Jaclyn Skuce was convicted on May 8, 2026, of three counts of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
- Prosecutors proved Skuce paid co-conspirators $30,000 to kill Anthony Sheppard on the morning of a scheduled custody hearing over their shared daughter.
- Co-defendant Logan Delp, already convicted of capital murder, testified that Skuce paid him to “get rid of” Sheppard; a second co-defendant pleaded guilty and received 20 years.
- The Morgan County jury deliberated for just one day before returning guilty verdicts on all three capital murder counts.
A Murder Timed to Silence a Custody Witness
Anthony Sheppard was killed in his Hartselle, Alabama home in 2020 on the very morning he was scheduled to appear at a custody hearing involving his and Skuce’s shared daughter. Prosecutors argued the timing was no coincidence — Skuce orchestrated the killing to prevent Sheppard from testifying. The murder-for-hire scheme involved at least three co-conspirators, and five people total were indicted in connection with the case.
Prosecutors presented a message from Skuce instructing co-defendant Logan Delp to “take care” of Sheppard. Delp, who was convicted of capital murder in October of the prior year and sentenced to life, testified at Skuce’s trial that she paid him thousands of dollars to “get rid of” Sheppard and that he served as the getaway driver. A court-admissible recording of Skuce’s law enforcement interview was also played for the jury, in which she acknowledged paying Delp $30,000.
Three Co-Defendants, One Scheme
Skuce allegedly used a fake Facebook account to contact a second co-defendant, LaJuhn Smart, offering $30,000 to kill Sheppard. Smart pleaded guilty to a lesser murder charge and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Two additional suspects were also indicted as part of the broader conspiracy, and proceedings for those individuals remain ongoing. Judge Jennifer Howell presided over Skuce’s trial in Morgan County Circuit Court.
Before trial, Judge Howell denied a defense motion to suppress Skuce’s recorded statements to investigators, ruling them admissible after hearing testimony from two investigators. The ruling was significant — Skuce’s own words, including her acknowledgment of the $30,000 payment, became central prosecution evidence. In the recording, Skuce stated “this wasn’t supposed to be a hit” and claimed she did not believe Delp would actually kill Sheppard, but the jury rejected that explanation.
Defense Raised Abuse Claims, Jury Wasn’t Persuaded
Skuce’s defense leaned heavily on a documented history of 32 police reports she had filed against Sheppard, alleging domestic violence and sexual abuse of their daughter. An investigator testified that Sheppard had been indicted for child sexual abuse but that the district attorney did not pursue the charges, citing the ongoing custody dispute as context. The judge instructed jurors that the trial was not about Sheppard’s alleged actions — it was about Skuce’s.
Testimony has now wrapped in the capital murder trial of Jaclyn Skuce, the north Alabama mother accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot in the 2020 killing of Larry Shephard. https://t.co/WkgXjWGfR7
— News 19 (@whnt) May 6, 2026
The jury convicted Skuce on all three counts of capital murder after a single day of deliberation, delivering a clear verdict that the abuse claims did not justify or mitigate a premeditated murder-for-hire plot. The sentence — life without the possibility of parole — was mandatory under Alabama law for a capital murder conviction. The case serves as a stark reminder that family court disputes, no matter how contentious, cannot be resolved through violence, and that the justice system will hold accountable those who attempt to use murder as a legal strategy.
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