A Baton Rouge woman accused of pressuring her boyfriend to kill the father of her children has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Hope Jackson entered her plea in August to charges of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice by tampering with evidence, stemming from the March 22 shooting death of Anthony Wesley Jr.
According to WBRZ, Jackson is accused of pressuring her boyfriend, Riddick Franklin, to kill Wesley, who was the father of her two children. Wesley and Jackson had been locked in a custody dispute, and WBRZ reports Wesley had filed a petition for custody, paternity, visitation and child support for the couple’s son and daughter.
Investigators say Franklin waited for hours in the parking lot of Wesley’s apartment complex on March 22 before shooting and killing him, per the same WBRZ report. theadvocate.com reports Wesley was found dead by East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s deputies on the sidewalk in front of his Jefferson Highway apartment in the early hours of that morning, after suffering multiple gunshot wounds. Surveillance footage allegedly captured Franklin shooting Wesley once from behind, then standing over him and firing a second shot, according to the outlet.
Texts and Phone Records Cited in the Case
Court records described in WBRZ’s reporting allege that Jackson told Franklin she wanted Wesley gone because she was tired of child support not being processed. Investigators also uncovered a message in which Jackson allegedly wrote, “I want him OV,” according to WBRZ’s coverage of the case…