Former Officer Cops Plea on Plot to Murder Irvin

A former policeman accused of trying to have Cowboy receiver Michael Irvin murdered has agreed to a plea bargain calling for a six-year prison sentence, a source close to the case said Thursday.

Johnnie Hernandez, 28, will plead guilty to solicitation of murder and an unrelated bribery charge, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Hernandez, whose trial was scheduled to begin Monday, could have received up to 99 years on the murder solicitation charge. Under the plea bargain, he could be out of prison in about two years with good behavior, the source said.

Attorneys are expected to submit the agreement today in court.

Authorities say Hernandez paid an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent posing as a hitman a $2,960 down payment on a contract to kill Irvin. The contract was reportedly in retaliation for threats against Hernandez’s girlfriend, Rachelle Smith, concerning her grand jury testimony against Irvin in connection with his drug possession case.

Smith was a friend of two women who were found with Irvin in a March 4 drug bust.

Defense attorneys have said Hernandez tried to back out of the scheme, but that the undercover agent coaxed him to proceed.

Hernandez resigned from the Dallas police force June 27, the day of his arrest.

Irvin cut short his trial in mid-July by pleading no contest to felony cocaine possession.