Lawyer Indicted in Murder-for-Hire Plot

The five years he is serving came from a guilty plea in the witness-retaliation case, and that judgment stands on its own. Thursday's indictment accuses him of using the mail to arrange a killing and of lying to FBI and ATF agents on Oct. 8. The initials in that charging document stay initials.

A federal grand jury in Covington indicted Chase Cox on Thursday, Nov. 12, on one count of using the mail and interstate facilities to arrange a murder for payment, and one count of making a false statement to federal agents. The murder-for-hire count covers Sept. 25 through Nov. 3. The false-statement count concerns answers he gave FBI and ATF agents on Oct. 8 about whether he would be a threat to the person in the indictment. That person is identified only by initials.

Cox, 33, is at the Shelby County Detention Center on a five-year state sentence. U.S. Marshals are to bring him to federal court in Covington for an arraignment on Dec. 9. A conviction on the two federal counts would carry up to 15 years in prison.

The state sentence followed a guilty plea to retaliating against a participant in a legal process. He hired a former client to damage his ex-girlfriend's car in Newport in August 2024, after she testified at his June 2024 misdemeanor trial. In March, a Campbell County judge revoked his probation after a cocaine test came back positive. He had first told a parole officer he had not used the drug. His law license is suspended.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.