A Williamson County woman has been accused of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband, a former Nashville news anchor. Angelia Solomon was arrested this past April after allegedly meeting with an undercover TBI agent in the parking lot of the Cool Springs Galleria to plan the murder of Aaron Solomon. Angelia has also been charged with two counts of retaliation for a past action, a felony charge for threatening to harm those related to a judicial proceeding. She has since pleaded not guilty, bonded out, and been placed under house arrest with an ankle monitor requirement. Her arraignment has been continued, with her next appearance in court to be in November.
Angelia is no stranger to the news after several issues, including the death of the former couple’s son in 2020. Below, we discuss the complexities of this case and the complications that have already presented themselves.
Solicitation and the Complex Issue of Intent
Solicitation, as its own charge, is a type of inchoate offense – a fancy word for incomplete or preliminary crimes. These types of crime do not require the actual crime itself – in this case, first-degree murder – to be completed, but rather certain steps taken to commit the crime. The other two types of inchoate offenses generally recognized are attempt and conspiracy.
Solicitation, like the other inchoate offenses, revolves around the intention of the accused. Tennessee Code § 39-12-102 defines solicitation as someone intentionally hiring, commanding, or requesting another to commit a criminal offense. In this case, that criminal offense is first-degree murder, which carries the classification of a Class B felony. Since first-degree murder is also an intent-based crime, the prosecution must prove that Angelia first intended to hire a hitman and that she intended for her ex-husband to be killed.
An Even More Complicated History
What makes this case perplexing with its history is the well-documented legal back-and-forth in the Solomon family. Angelia has accused Aaron of sexual and physical abuse since they married in 2001. After divorcing in 2013, the couple engaged in a complex divorce and years-long child custody battle over their two children, Grant and Gracie Solomon, which resulted in Angelia being labeled an “abusive litigant” in 2019.
Their daughter Gracie has also repeatedly publicly accused her father of sexual abuse, starting when she was five years old – including an 18-minute-long video she posted on YouTube in 2021. In the video, which is titled “Gracie’s Story – A Cry for Help,” Gracie details the sexual abuse she claims she faced at the hands of her father and the emotional abuse both she and Grant experienced.
These accusations came to the forefront in 2020 when 18-year-old Grant died after his truck rolled over him. He and his father had arrived at an athletic training facility that morning, and Aaron claims that, while he was distracted by a work call, Grant’s truck slipped out of gear and rolled down to the embankment, trapping Grant underneath. The police ruled his death an accident, but the incident has caused many, both in the local community and beyond, to question the circumstances of his death. Multiple podcasts and online chat threads have been created to dissect Grant’s death, including one with over 2.8 million views, and Angelia and Gracie have been vocal about their belief in Aaron’s involvement.
Charges have never been brought against Aaron Solomon for either the abuse or murder allegations.
Possible Defenses and Complications
The biggest and most glaring obstacle in defending Angelia Solomon is one that has already caused her trouble – the recording of her and the undercover TBI agent discussing the transaction and what she wants. The tape has already been played in full during her bond reduction hearing, where her bond was reduced from $500,000 to $250,000, to which the judge presiding said, “I think she needs to be restrained… The things I heard her say on the tape – I’m trying to follow the law, but they give me great pause.” This is largely due to the details discussed on the tape, including Angelia giving her vehicle registration as security and her desire to see her ex-husband “under the ground.”
The fact that the person she was allegedly trying to hire to murder her ex-husband was not, in fact, a hitman but rather law enforcement is not a defense. The law states that “it is no defense that the person solicited is unable to commit the offense solicited because of the lack of capacity, status, or characteristic needed to commit the offense solicited, so long as the person soliciting or the person solicited believes that either or both have such capacity, status, or characteristic.” What this means is that Angelia cannot claim that the crime she was hiring another to commit could not even be completed because it was actually a TBI agent the whole time. As mentioned earlier, solicitation is about intent – whether Angelia intended to hire someone to commit the crime of murder.
Have Questions About Your Own Case? Let Us Help
Facing an arrest doesn’t mean facing the system alone, no matter how complex your case is. At PNC Law, we provide clear guidance, professional representation, and dedicated support every step of the way. Contact PNC Law today at (615) 785-2000 or philip@tncriminaldefenseattorney.com.