Man sentenced in murder-for-hire plot

A former real estate agent will serve nearly 10 years in prison for trying to hire a man to kill his estranged wife.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon sentenced Patrick Scott Shemorry on Wednesday to nine-and-a-half-years in prison during a hearing in Charlottesville’s federal court. Shemorry also will serve three years of supervised release and undergo drug and mental health treatment.

Shemorry, 28, said he was sorry for what he had done and how he had shamed his family. He said the incident changed him.

“Everything I liked about myself had dulled,“ Shemorry said, his voice shaking. “I became an empty shell where a bright spirit had once shone.“

Authorities have said Shemorry’s marriage to Starla Knight had begun to fall apart, so they took a trip to New Orleans earlier this year in search of a fresh start.

According to a sentencing memorandum filed in court records, the couple was looking for drugs when they met a man who called himself Darius Hampton, but whose actual name is Michael Terry.

The couple befriended Terry, authorities have said, and invited him to come back to Charlottesville. Once the couple returned, Shemorry quit his job and starting getting the couple’s condominium ready for sale. Authorities have said Terry and the couple were using drugs and alcohol heavily.

In April, the couple separated, and Knight moved to New Orleans.

Authorities have said Shemorry told Terry that he would give him $1,200 in travel money and a start in the drug trade if he killed Knight. Instead of doing so,

Terry traveled to New Orleans to warn her and approached authorities with an audiotape he had made of Shemorry discussing the hit.

Knight could not be reached for comment on this story. A letter she submitted to the court was not made public.

Andrea Harris, Shemorry’s attorney, said in court that his family has been supportive of him and was shocked to learn that Shemorry had been accused of attempting to arrange his wife’s slaying.

Shemorry grew up in Pasco, Wash., with three siblings, according to court records. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Air Force and was eventually stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton. Shemorry married Knight in 2004 in Williamsburg.

The memo said Shemorry had two “minor use of drug offenses” in 2004, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy S. Healey said in court caused him to receive a bad conduct discharge from the Air Force. The couple eventually moved to Charlottesville, where Shemorry worked as a real estate agent.

Authorities have said Terry is facing fraud charges in Virginia.