On Friday (Dec. 16), 54-year-old Meshell Hale was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of her former boyfriend, 41-year-old Damian Paul Skipper. Yesterday (Dec. 20), she received a mandatory life sentence for poisoning the victim with a barium acetate compound in 2015. According to Lafayette, Louisiana news station KLFY 10, Hale is also implicated in the death of her husband, Arthur Noflin, with the same toxin.

Sources say the Baton Rouge woman has not been charged with poisoning her husband because his body was set on fire and too badly burned to detect the substance. Noflin’s remains were discovered in an abandoned and torched vehicle in New Orleans in 2016. Because of the severity of the fire and lack of evidence, no one was charged for his death. As for Skipper, prosecutors say Hale purchased the poison online.

Judge Raymond Bigelow presided over the case, but his decision to set her bond at $300,000 after she was caught poisoning her ex-lover caused a bit of controversy. Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings said, “This was a clean trial. It’s going to be upheld on appeal. There is no reason for her to leave that jail.” She added, “The state believes the defendant is both a flight risk and a danger to her family and the community.” District Attorney Hillar Moore also gave his opinion on the case, as reported by local Baton Rouge outlet The Advocate. “We’re looking at a person now who’s guilty. It’s not one who’s presumed innocent; she is now guilty of this offense,” he noted. The district attorney continued, “To have the same bond that she was out on pre-adjudication of guilt be the same bond again now, she’s going to bond out of jail for $38,000, my guess, within minutes or hours. It sounds as if she has this all set up.”

During the proceedings, the families of both of the victims sat together. Skipper’s cousin, Michael Durand, said, “I really don’t know how to feel. It was a shocker to give somebody a mandatory life sentence and then turn around and give them a bond. We can’t get Skipper back, and it’s just kind of confusing right now that they would do such a thing.” One of Noflin’s sisters added, “It’s just baffling to all of us. It makes no sense.” Hale will appear in court again for the poisoning death on Feb. 22, 2023.