A Cobb County man suspected of playing a role in an armed robbery in 2021 has been convicted of trying to hire someone to kill the woman who was robbed, officials said.
Samuel Etuk, 38, was found guilty of criminal solicitation and influencing a witness in a jury trial last week, Cobb District Attorney Sonya F. Allen said in a statement. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and will be retried on counts of first-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit murder, according to court documents.
Etuk was acquitted on counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, false imprisonment and aggravated assault, court documents show. A second man charged in the same incident, Michael Hansell, pleaded guilty to counts of armed robbery, first-degree burglary and false imprisonment in November 2023, Allen said. Hansell was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The nearly four-year-long case against Etuk began in January 2021 when a woman called 911 to report that she’d been robbed, Allen said. The woman ran a nail salon out of her home and had taken an appointment with a man who used the alias Darren Herring, the DA said.
During the appointment, Herring left the home for a few minutes and returned with three masked men, according to Allen. The men forced their way inside and assaulted the victim before tying her up with tape, a bed sheet and a lamp cord, Allen said. The men then stole her laptop, debit card, passport and a gun before leaving, the DA said.
Police later identified Etuk and Hansell as suspects and arrested them in March 2021, Allen said. While in jail, Etuk reached out to an inmate who was thought to have ties to the Aryan Brotherhood, according to Allen, and offered $10,000 to have the woman killed.
The inmate reported Etuk’s solicitation to police, who set up an undercover officer to pose as a hitman, Allen said. Investigators also searched Etuk’s jail cell and found notes detailing the murder-for-hire plot, according to the DA.
Allen said the jury deliberated for about 10 hours across multiple days. The judge directed not guilty verdicts for the counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault, while the jury found Etuk not guilty of kidnapping and false imprisonment.
The jury was hung on the counts of first-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit murder, court records show. Prosecutors have already moved to retry Etuk on those charges, according to court records.
Etuk has been held in the Cobb jail without bond since his arrest, jail records show.
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