May 8, 2024 - A hearing held in the 273rd Judicial District Court May 7, 2024, saw Ethan Myers plead guilty to the 2022 murder of Sarah Hopson.
Through plea agreement, Myers received a sentence of 60 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division (TDCJ-ID) for the murder of Sarah Hopson which was reported on November 13, 2022.
In court, Myers was present with his attorney Holly Hammons. As the hearing began Myers, Hammons and District Attorney Karren Price approached the bench of Honorable Judge James Payne and Price asked that Myers, for the record, state whether or not he committed the acts alleged in the indictment against him. As asked, Judge Payne inquired of Myers if he was indeed pleading guilty to those charges included in the indictment and if he was pleading guilty, because he is guilty and Myers agreed that he committed the acts in the indictment and that he is in fact guilty.
Price requested also that Myers state the name of his victim, and he complied, stating her name was Sarah “Hospon,” and Judge Payne asked him again to repeat her name to which he once again said Sarah “Hospon.”
Judge Payne accepted Myers' plea and accepted that the evidence supported his plea, and Judge Payne convicted Myers of the murder and sentenced him to 60 years incarceration in the TDCJ-ID with credit for time served of 527 days.
As the court was set to adjourn, Price asked for clarification on the record from Judge Payne of a finding of a deadly weapon, and he concurred.
Myers was then escorted out of the courtroom by Shelby County Sheriff’s Captain D.J. Dickerson, Chief Chad Hooper and Deputy Misty Ray.
District Attorney Price was available for comment on the case, and the resulting conviction of Myers.
Myers was sentenced to 60 years in prison, and many may wonder how long that actually means he would have to spend in prison. Price confirmed he will be in prison for 30 years before being considered for parole.
“That’s the importance of the deadly weapon finding, that we went back on the record to be sure that the judge understood, that there’s a deadly weapon finding in the judgment,” said Price.
If this hadn’t been noted, there would have been a possibility Myers could have been released whenever Pardons and Paroles deemed acceptable, and probably a third of the sentence. In this case, half will have to be served before he will be eligible.
Price said that no one gets parole the first time around, and when there’s a deadly weapon finding in a case the parole board really will look intently at that factor. When an individual becomes eligible for parole, the board is required to set it a second time within 10 years of the first time they deny parole for an inmate.
“He’s probably looking at close to 40 [years], which is essentially life for him,” said Price.
There was no statement from Myers as to his reasoning for killing Hopson, or why he did it in the way that he did.
“20 minutes after he’s arrested until today when he actually mentioned Sarah’s name in court he had no memory of any of that, which is why I wanted him to say her name on the record,” said Price. “Some admission, that yeah, he knew exactly what he was doing.”
Price referred back to the phone call Myers made to his mother after Hopson was murdered, telling her, “Sarah wanted him to sacrifice her.” Through testimony of different sources, Price learned that Sarah was in love with Myers and thought he “hung the moon.”
Price contends that if Hopson were aware of the “sacrifice,” Myers wouldn’t likely have drugged her and then struck her in the head with a rock before proceeding to dismember her.
Hopson’s mother was looking forward to closure, said Price, and Price really wasn’t looking forward to she or Myers' mother being exposed to the evidence presented in court, due to its terrible nature.
“In my 40 years here, there's only been one other that matches it in so far as gruesomeness goes,” said Price.
Price said she couldn’t find any ritualistic material to indicate the murder was part of any satanic worship and she hasn’t found any evidence to support that suggestion.
Myers was examined by two separate doctors not connected to one another, and each came to the same exact conclusion that he’s a narcissist personality.
Price believes Myers said “Hospon” in court because he really didn’t know her last name, “she wasn’t important to him.”
Although drugs were detected in Hopson’s system, according to Price, no drugs were found to be in Myers system.
“He was stone cold sober when he killed her. She was not,” said Price.
Teresa Louviere and Allen Price, co-defendants with Myers, have been determined to not be complicit in Myers’ crime as no DNA evidence connected either one of them to the room where Hopson was murdered.
The charges to each of murder, first degree felony; and tampering with physical evidence, second degree felony, have all been dismissed against them.
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